Alleged N620m fraud: Court quashes charge against Baptist pastors, others

ABUJA– A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, on Thursday, quashed a five-count charge that was preferred against two Abuja-based pastors accused of misappropriating church funds totalling about N620 million.

The court, in a ruling delivered by Justice J. A. Aina, discharged the embattled clerics Reverend Isreal Akanji, who was formerly in charge of First Baptist Church, Garki, and his colleague, Rev. Thomas Ekugbene Takpatore.

Others equally discharged by the court were Mr. Babatunde Adebayo, Mrs. Adenike Adebayo, Mr. Oladele Afolabi and Mrs. Gloria Olotu.

The charge against the defendants, which was filed by the Federal Government, bordered on conspiracy, forgery and criminal diversion of church funds.

It was alleged that the defendants, sometime in 2012 and 2021, forged an amended version of the church’s constitution, falsely attributing it to a late lawyer, Akin Aina, who was the legal adviser and secretary of the church’s Board of Trustees.

They were accused of acting in breach of Section 97 of the Penal Code.

However, in his ruling on Thursday, Justice Aina quashed the charge marked: M/CR/1045/2025, on the premise that the prosecution failed to establish a prima facie case against the defendants.

He held that the proof of evidence adduced before the court was not capable of sustaining the charge.

Besides, the court noted that the prosecution failed to file a counter-affidavit to contradict a motion the defendants filed to challenge the competence of the charge.

According to the court, failure of the prosecution to counter the defendants’ motion amounted to an admission of all the depositions therein.

The court held that in the absence of any evidence to nail the defendants to the charge, the court was left with no option but to free them.

Consequently, the court made an order that quashed the charge and discharged all the defendants.

It will be recalled that the defendants had in a motion they filed pursuant to sections 6(6) and 36 (5) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, as well as section 277 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, ACJA, 2015, prayed the court for “an order quashing all the five counts contained in the criminal charges dated December 13, 2024 and filed on December 20, 2024, preferred against the defendants/applicants in charge No M/CR/1045/2025 and accordingly discharge the defendants.”

The motion was supported by a 60-paragraph affidavit, six exhibits and a written address.

Counsel to the defendants, Chief Niyi Akintola, SAN, argued that the proof of evidence did not disclose any nexus between his clients and offences contained in the charge against them.

Insisting that the defendants did not commit any offence to warrant their trial, Akintola, SAN, told the court that the church never complained that its money was missing.

He argued that the charge lacked the backing of the Board of Trustees of the church, alleging that the trial was instigated by a rabble rouser who was out to embarrass the defendants.

“My lord, nobody is complaining that his or her money is missing. The church of about 5000 members is not complaining that her money is missing,” Akintola, SAN, submitted.

On her part, the prosecution counsel, Ms. Veronica Visan, apologised to the court for her inability to file a counter-affidavit to oppose the defendants’ motion to quash the charge.

She, however, maintained that investigations by the police established that the defendants have a case to answer.