The transactions were allegedly carried out through Elixir Securities Limited and Elixir Investment Partners Limited.
The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has adjourned till January 20, 2026, for the adoption of final written addresses in the alleged N3.1 billion fraud case filed against former Benue State Governor, Gabriel Suswam, and his then Commissioner for Finance, Omodachi Okolobia, by the Federal Government.
Justice Peter Lifu fixed the date after Suswam and his co-defendant closed their defence. The judge gave the prosecution 14 days to file and serve their final written address and another 14 days for the defendants to respond upon service. The matter was adjourned till January 20, 2026, for the adoption of final written addresses.
Suswam and his co-defendant are facing an 11-count amended charge over the alleged misappropriation of N3.1 billion said to be part of proceeds from the sale of shares owned by the Benue State Government through the Benue Investment and Property Company Limited. The transactions were allegedly carried out through Elixir Securities Limited and Elixir Investment Partners Limited.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had closed its case after calling nine witnesses. Instead of the defendants opening their defence, they opted for a no-case submission, arguing that they had no case to answer regarding the alleged diversion of N3.1 billion in public funds.
Justice Lifu, however, in a ruling delivered on July 23, dismissed the no-case submission filed by Suswam and his co-defendant and ordered them to open their defence. The court held that the totality of the evidence presented by the anti-graft agency established a prima facie case that warranted an explanation from the defendants.
The judge dismissed the defendants’ request to be discharged and acquitted, describing it as lacking in merit.
Suswam, who governed Benue State from 2007 to 2015, alongside his co-defendant, had anchored their application on sections 302 and 303 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015, praying the court to terminate further proceedings on the case. They argued that the EFCC failed to provide credible evidence linking them to the allegations in the charge.
The prosecution opposed their request, insisting that both documentary and oral evidence presented by witnesses in the case implicated the defendants in the alleged crime.
Delivering his ruling, Justice Lifu held that he found no merit in the defendants’ applications and accordingly dismissed them.
“Consequently, upon my conclusion on the above stated, the defendants’ no-case submission is hereby refused and dismissed. The defendants are hereby called upon to enter their various defences,” Justice Lifu ruled.
The EFCC had, in 2015, charged the former governor and his ex-Commissioner of Finance to court over allegations that they looted proceeds from the sale of shares owned by the Benue State Government and the Benue Investment and Property Company Limited. The EFCC alleged that the duo laundered about N3.1 billion using two companies—Elixir Securities Limited and Elixir Investment Partners Limited—as conduits.
The defendants were re-arraigned before the court on November 2, 2020. In the amended charge, the EFCC alleged that the second defendant, Okolobia, conducted transactions totaling N578 million in four tranches, exceeding the cash transaction threshold permitted by money laundering laws. The offences were said to have been committed between December 2014 and January 2015.
