The question that arise is whether the prosecution have
established all the essential ingredients of obtaining money by
false pretence with intent to defraud contrary to Section 1(1) of
the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud related Offences Act
No. 14 of 2006.
Count Two – Six relate to the above section while the 1st count
relate to the offence of conspiracy contrary to Section 8(a) of the
Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act No. 14
of 2006 and punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act.
No shred of evidence was given by the prosecution witnesses
about the accused conspiring with any other person to commit
the offence in count one.
The accused person is hereby
discharged and acquitted in respect of Count one of the six
counts charge. See NORATURNOCHA v STATE (2011) 6 NWLR (Pt
1242) P 170 where the court held as follows:
“The prosecution has to prove all the essential elements of
the offence as contained in the charge, while discharging
the responsibility of proving all the ingredients of the offence,
vital
witnesses
must
be
called
to
testify
during
the
proceedings. Before a trial court comes to conclusion that
an offence had been committed by an accused person”
In trying to see whether the prosecution had established the
ingredients of counts 2 – 6, we have to state the ingredients of the
remaining five counts charge which border on obtaining money
by false pretence with intent to defraud contrary to Section 1(1) of
10