Justice Raphael Chikwe Agbo, a ranking justice of Nigeria’s Court of Appeal, is dead.
Justice Agbo died last Monday in Calabar. Admitted to the Bar in 1978, he was the second ranking justice of the Court of Appeal.
Appointed a justice of the Court of Appeal in 2005, Justice Agbo was due to retire from the Bench on October 21, 2023 after a chequered career as a judicial officer.
Recalls that former Enugu State Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi had recently named the Enugu State Multi-Door Courthouse after the jurist who hails from the state, saying it is “honour well-deserved.”
In perhaps his last major judgment, Agbo had led a Court of Appeal panel which upheld the conviction of Senator Bassey Akpan, the governorship candidate of Young Progressives Party (YPP) in Akwa Ibom State, over money laundering charges. The court also ordered Akpan’s arrest.
The panel, sitting in Calabar, however varied the sentence by granting the appellant an option of fine.
“The court also affirmed that the appellant should restitute the sum of N240 million to the federal government through the EFCC and that the said restitution shall not be a prerequisite for his release from the correctional facility,” an Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) statement noted. “The court finally revoked the bail and ordered the arrest of Senator Akpan.”
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