In a dramatic turn of event, the Police on Wednesday, dropped the 90-count criminal charges brought against Dickson Akoh, e National Commandant of the Peace Corps of Nigeria.
The 90-count charges filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja were withdrawn by police even when the formal trial has not commenced.
However, a new charge of 13-counts has been brought to replace the old charge.
The police authorities have being having running battles with the Peace Corps Commandant in the last one year over his concerted efforts to transform the Corps into a statutory body through an Act of the National Assembly as being the practiced in the advanced world, especially the United State of America and the United Kingdom.
No reasons were given by the police for the sudden withdrawal of the 90-count charges, but it was however gathered that the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation ( AGF) and Minister of Justice had faulted the bogus charges brought against Akoh early this year.
The AGF office was said to have found most of the charges frivolous, baseless and cannot be substantiated before any court of record.
The Office of the AGF was also said to have discovered that virtually all the 90-count charges were duplication of one another done by the Police shortly after the Corporate Head Office of the PCN was invaded on February 28, 2017 during its official commissioning in Abuja.
A team of legal experts was said to have been put in place by the AGF, which revealed the 90-count charges and came to the conclusion that the charges be reduced and compressed to only 13.
Although, the trial of Akoh was slated for Wednesday, T. V. C Kuku, a counsel from the AGF office, informed Justice John Tsoho that the AGF had amended the charges and reduced the 90-count charges to only 13, by dropping 77 of the charges in the old charge sheet.
The counsel, submitted that the defendant (Akoh) had not been served with the amended charge personally as required by law and pleaded with Justice Tsoho to grant an adjournment in the matter to enable the defendant to be served in line with the provision of the law.
John Ochogwu, Counsel to the defendant, did not object to the request for adjournment by the prosecution.
It will be recalled that the Police have early in the year frozen 24 bank accounts belonging to the Peace Corps Commandant and state commands of the Corps and other officers.
Although, the accounts were frozen through an order of Justice Tsoho, the order was however set aside by the same Judge upon discovery that police acted in bad fate in freezing the account in the first instance.
Justice Tsoho, in his ruling, while vacating the order, held that police engaged in gross abuse of court process on the ground that sililar order freezing the Peace Corps account was obtained at a Magistrate court in Abuja and was set aside by the same Magistrate court following a counter motion of the Peace Corps.
The Judge said that it was wrong of Police to have suppressed facts on the Magistrate court matter before approaching the Federal High Court for the same order to freeze the accounts, adding that from whatever way is looked, the Police acted, “In bad fate against the Corps”, and ordered the three banks involved to unfreeze the 24 bank accounts.
Meanwhile, the matter gad been adjourned till January 15, 2017 for ruling on the motion and counter motion on the sealing of the Corporate headquarters of the Peace Corps of Nigeria in Abuja.