Obasanjo's in-law sentenced to seven years imprisonment for forgery

THE CABLE

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.”