A high court of the federal capital territory has ruled that chairman of Aiteo Oil and Gas, Mr. Benedict Peters did not violate the Electoral Act following donations he made to political parties during 2015 general elections.
Justice Olukayode Adeniyi dismissed the suit filed by one Chief Akinmoju Jero who had  joined a businessman, Mr. Benedict  Peters and Northern Belt Oil and Gas Company of Nigeria Limited as defendants. Alleging that Mr. Peters, paid a bribe of $115million to electoral officers to influence the outcome of the 2015 Presidential election, Chief Jero had  sworn to affidavit  alleging  that the electoral officers who received the bribe have made confessional statements and have also had all their bank accounts blocked.
He also accused Mr. Peters of donating the sum of $60 million for the PDP campaign fund for the 2015 Presidential election which is far above the recommended amount of N1 million by the electoral act. In his response to the allegation, Peters denied giving bribe to electoral officials to influence the outcome of the elections. According to an affidavit deposed to by one Andrew Onyearu,  the 1st defendant, being a very wealthy man has donated to all political parties before the election and also to their candidates. In his judgement, Justice Adeniyi dismissed the case of the plaintiff for lacking in merit.
Justice Adeniyi held that “The online publication relied upon by the plaintiff is not admissible in law. The evidence is clearly unrelated to the allegation of bribery adduced in this case.
“I have not seen any concrete or factual basis by the plaintiff to support the allegation  made against the defendant in this case. The plaintiff has failed to show to the court that the money was donated to influence the outcome of the 2015 Presidential elections.