For the second time, the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice has withdrawn the fiat earlier granted to human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, to prosecute a criminal charge against Mr. Leo Stan Ekeh, Chairman of Zinox Technologies, and 12 others.
The case stems from a 13-year-old commercial dispute involving Citadel Oracle Concept Limited, an Ibadan-based computer firm owned by Mr. Benjamin Joseph, an indigene of Enugu State, and Technology Distributions Limited, over the supply of computers to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS). Zinox Technologies and its promoter, Mr. Ekeh, have consistently maintained that they had no involvement in the transaction.
In the latest development, the current AGF, Mr. Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, in a letter dated 2nd May 2025, instructed Falana to withdraw Charge No. FCT/HC/CR/985/2024 (FRN v. Leo Stan Ekeh & 12 others), stating that the fiat “ought not to have been granted in the first place.” The directive, signed by Mr. M.B. Abubakar, Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation, emphasized that the move was made “in the interest of justice.”
The letter, titled Withdrawal of Authorization Under Section 174 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (As Amended), also referenced an earlier fiat dated 20th December 2023, authorizing the prosecution of a similar charge—FRN v. Chris Eze Ozims & 6 others, Charge No. CR/827/2013—at the expense of the nominal complainant, Mr. Benjamin Joseph.
In a related letter dated 6th May 2025, addressed to Matthew Burkaa & Co., counsel to the defendants, the DPP confirmed that the AGF had reviewed their multiple representations and decided to withdraw the fiat and the charges filed pursuant to it.
This marks the second withdrawal of such authorization. In October 2022, former AGF Abubakar Malami, SAN, had also revoked a similar fiat previously issued to Falana, leading to the striking out of the charges by two different judges of the FCT High Court, Hon. Justices Christopher O. Oba and Ade S. Adepoju.
Despite the initial withdrawals, Falana had, upon the appointment of AGF Fagbemi, reapplied and was reissued a fresh fiat on the same set of facts and allegations. Using the renewed authority, he filed a new charge in November 2024—Charge No. FCT/HC/CR/985/2024—which has now also been dismissed.
Most recently, on 20th March 2025, Justice Akpan Okon Ebong of the FCT High Court struck out the charge, describing it as a “gross abuse of court process.” In his judgment, the judge observed that no law enforcement agency had found any merit in the complainant’s multiple petitions and noted that Mr. Joseph himself had repeatedly failed to appear in court to substantiate his claims.
The judge stated:
“One intriguing aspect of this matter is that none of the law enforcement agencies involved in the investigation of the nominal complainant’s numerous petitions has found merit in any of his allegations against the defendants… One then wonders on what premise he wants to maintain this campaign of persecution.”
Past rulings had already found that Mr. Ekeh and his co-defendants were, in fact, victims of a failed scheme allegedly orchestrated by Mr. Joseph and his company, Citadel.
The withdrawn charges named the following defendants, all of whom had previously been discharged and acquitted: Mr. Chris Eze Ozims, Oyebode Folashade, Charles Adigwe, Obilo Onuoha, Agartha Ukoha, Anya O. Anya, Femi Dosumu, Nnenna Kalu, Admas Digital Technologies Ltd., Technology Distributions Ltd., and Zinox Technologies Ltd.
Before the most recent dismissal, the same allegations had been struck out twice—first by Justice Oba in November 2022 (Charge No. CR/469/2022), and again by Justice Adepoju in March 2024, who condemned the case as “dead, extinct, and fit for the dustbin of history.”
Further undermining Mr. Joseph’s credibility, a 2013 investigation by the Nigerian Police concluded he had provided false information in his original petition, resulting in his prosecution in Charge No. CR/216/16. Similarly, in a related EFCC-initiated suit against his former partner Princess Kama (Charge No. FCT/HC/CR/244/2018), Justice Danlami Z. Senchi dismissed Joseph’s claims and awarded N20 million in damages against him for filing a false petition.
With the second withdrawal of the prosecutorial fiat by the AGF, the case appears to have met yet another decisive end.