Court Acquits Femi Fani-Kayode of Medical Forgery Charges, Says He Has No Caseto Answer

The Special Offences Court in Ikeja, Lagos, has acquitted Femi Fani-Kayode, former Minister of Aviation, of charges related to medical forgery. Justice Olubumni Abike-Fadipe delivered the ruling after upholding the no-case submission filed by Fani-Kayode’s defense counsel, Norrison Quakers (SAN). The court concluded that the prosecution, led by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), had failed to establish a prima facie case against the defendant.

Fani-Kayode had been facing 12 counts related to the alleged use of forged medical reports, which were presented during his ongoing trial for an alleged N4.9 billion fraud. One of the charges accused him of submitting a false medical report, purportedly from Kubwa General Hospital, before the Federal High Court in Lagos in October 2021. Another charge involved the use of a forged document in March 2021, allegedly from the same hospital.

The EFCC had argued that procuring and using forged documents was in violation of section 369 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015. During the trial, Kubwa General Hospital’s management denied any association with the medical reports, asserting that Fani-Kayode was not a patient and had never been admitted. The hospital’s head of medical records testified that the documents presented by the former minister were not issued by the institution.

Additionally, a second prosecution witness, Abidat Bukola, claimed that Fani-Kayode had paid her a total of N820,000 at different times to procure four forged medical reports, dictating their content. However, Fani-Kayode denied all allegations. Following the ruling, the court concluded that there was insufficient evidence to link the former minister to the crime, resulting in his discharge and acquittal.