The Court of Appeal, Yola division, today, the 22nd day of April, 2020, delivered its judgment in the case of Esthon V FRN.
In a unanimous decision, judgment written by Chioma Nwaoma Uwa, PJ, but read by James Shehu Abiriyi, JCA, the Court of Appeal resolved all the issues in favour of the Appellant, a past Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Yola branch.
Accordingly, the decision of the Federal High Court, Yola, per B.B Aliyu J (as she then was), delivered on the 26th of September, 2019 was set aside, acquitting the Appellant on all counts.
Mr Esthon was charged alongside Mr Shehu Mustapha (former Registrar of the High Court of Justice, Yola division) for conspiracy and fraudulent conversion of the sum of N5,000,000 (five million naira), said to be part of the money recovered by Mr Esthon on behalf of his clients, who were then employees of Stirling Construction.
The hearing of the appeal took place on the 3rd day of March, 2020, with Joe-Kyari Gadzama, SAN, leading a team of lawyers on behalf of the Appellant. In a favorable turn of events, the learned silk succeeded in urging the Court of Appeal to set aside the decision of the Federal High Court, Yola division, which had earlier convicted Mr Esthon and sentenced him to a term of five years.