Former executive director of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, Capt. Ezekiel Agaba, has been sentenced seven years for diverting N1.5bn from the agency.
Agaba was in charge of Maritime, Safety, and Shipping Development when Patrick Akpobolokemi was director-general of NIMASA during the Goodluck Jonathan’s government.
The former director was arraigned in December 2015 alongside Akpolobokemi.
While Court of Appeal has since discharged Akpobolokemi and the EFCC withdrew charges against the two other defendants, the Federal High Court in Lagos convicted Agaba of N1.5bn fraud and jailed him seven years.
Justice Ibrahim Buba, who handed down the verdict on Wednesday, held that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission proved the charges against the defendant beyond reasonable doubts.
Agaba and Akpobolokemi were arraigned alongside two others for using two firms to siphon about N2.6bn meant for the implementation of International Ship and Port Security code at NIMASA.
