John Abebe Sentenced to 7-year Imprisonment for Forgery

A Lagos state special offences court in Ikeja has sentenced John Abebe, a businessman, to seven years in prison for forging a document belonging to an oil company.

Mojisola Dada, the judge who gave the ruling on Saturday, gave an option of a fine of N50 million to be paid within 30 days in lieu of imprisonment.

In 2018, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arraigned Abebe, a younger brother of the late Stella Obasanjo, former first lady, on four counts.

The EFCC, in the charges, claimed that Abebe “knowingly forged” a November 30, 1995, letter written by BP Exploration Nigeria Limited to Inducon (Nigeria) Ltd.

The anti-graft agency also claimed that the businessman illegally inserted into page 2 of the said letter that: “Also note that the ‘Buy-Out Option’ only applies to the pre-production stage of the NPIA. The $4m buy-out is thus irrelevant from production of Oil in any of our fields.”

The EFCC said Abebe also attempted to pervert the course of justice by tendering the allegedly forged November 30, 1995 letter “as fabricated evidence” in court, in Suit No. FHC/L/CS/224/2010 between John Abebe, Inducon Nigeria Limited, and Statoil Nigeria Limited.

It accused him of making an attempt to mislead the court by using fabricated evidence contrary to section 120 (2) of the Criminal Code Cap C17, Law of Lagos state of Nigeria 2003.