The latest is the dismissal of the suit by Justice Akpan Okon Ebong of the FCT High Court, who struck out the case filed by Mr. Femi Falana SAN, purporting to act on a fiat donated to him by the Attorney General and Minister of Justice of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Mr. Lateef Fagbemi SAN, against the Chairman of Zinox Technologies, Mr. Leo Stan Ekeh, and 12 others.

The other defendants are Mr. Chris Eze Ozims, Oyebode Folashade, Charles Adigwe, Obilo Onuoha, Agartha Ukoha, Anya O. Anya, Femi Dosumu, Nnenna Kalu, Admas Digital Technologies Limited, Technology Distributions Limited and Zinox Technologies Limited.

In the suit No. FCT/HC/CR/985/24 filed in November 2024, Falana, on behalf of his client, Benjamin Joseph, the CEO of Citadel Oracle Concept Limited, an Ibadan-based computer firm, filed charges against Ekeh, 9 other individuals and 3 companies before the Federal High Court in Abuja for allegedly diverting N162,247,513.80 being payment for laptop supply contract at the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) Headquarters which Technology Distribution Ltd (now TD Africa), the biggest tech equipment distributor in sub-Saharan Africa supplied on behalf of Citadel in 2012.

However, in the certified true copy of the judgment dated March 20, 2025, Justice Ebong ruled as follows: “It is my conclusion based on the foregoing that this charge (No. FCT/HC/CR/985/2024, Federal Republic of Nigeria v Leo Stan Ekeh and 12 ORS) constitutes a gross abuse of court process and is liable to dismissal. I accordingly hereby dismiss it.”

Before arriving at his judgment, which has put the final nail in the coffin of a case that other courts had also dismissed in the past as dead on arrival, Justice Ebong considered the outcome of previous cases and petitions filed by Mr. Joseph, none of which was in his favour.

Justice Ebong said:

“One intriguing aspect of this matter is that none of the law enforcement agencies involved in the investigation of the nominal complainant’s (Mr. Joseph) numerous petitions has found merit in any of his allegations against the defendants. When called upon before Senchi J. (Justice Danlami Z. Senchi) to prove his said allegations to the court, he failed to turn up in court. One then wonders on what premise he wants to maintain this campaign of persecution against the defendants.”

Previous judgments on the matter had established that rather than being the culprit, Ekeh and the 12 others were actually the victims of a failed money diversion scheme plotted by Mr. Joseph and Citadel.

When contacted, one of the defendants, Mr. Chris Eze Ozims, a lawyer, said:

“This ruling truly reflects our consistent position on the allegations, and it is good that we have been vindicated, once more, by a competent high court.”

He asserted that the judgment of Justice Ebong was consistent with the position of the defendants and in tandem with the rulings of other judges who had previously adjudicated on the same matter.

Chief counsel to the defendants, Mr. Matthew Burkaa SAN, described the judgment as a victory for integrity and the rule of law.

Court papers showed that Falana’s suit was based on the same claims that various courts had dismissed in the past as falsehood and baseless.

The case arose from a contract between Citadel and Technology Distributions Limited over the supply of computers to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), a project fully funded by Technology Distributions and has no bearing whatsoever with Zinox and its promoter, Mr Leo Stan Ekeh.

It will be recalled that Mr. Joseph had lost the case and its adjunct suits at different courts in the past. In his petition to the police in 2013, police authorities discovered that Mr. Joseph provided false information to the police, prompting the Inspector General of Police to charge him for false information in charge no.CR/216/16.

In another case filed by the EFCC in his instance against his partner, Princess Kama, in charge no. FCT/HC/CR/244/2018,  Honorable Justice Danlami Z. Senchi of the FCT High Court (as he then was) dismissed as false all the allegations made by Benjamin Joseph, and imposed the sum of N20 million as damages against him for false petitioning in relation to these same allegations.

Earlier court papers showed that Joseph, in his statement on oath in suit No:LD/4335/2014 in the High Court of Justice, Lagos State, dated June 28, 2019, averred that his company, Citadel, did not execute any contract with FIRS and that he was not aware that a contract had been awarded to Citadel.

In his deposition under oath, Joseph claimed that Citadel “did not at any time execute any contract for the FIRS and neither did the 2nd defendant (Princess O. Kama) who is its agent in respect of the contract it bid for with the FIRS deliver/release any documents to the Claimant (Citadel) indicating that the contract it bid for, or any other contract was awarded to it by the FIRS or any other body.”

However, a letter from the FIRS addressed to the chamber of Afe Babalola & Co dated February 11, 2014 (FIRS/PD/GDS/2559) and signed by one Idrissa Kogo, Head Legal Department, stated: “Contrary to your client’s claim that they knew nothing about the execution of the contract awarded to them and that they did not receive any payment for the execution of the contract, our record reveals otherwise.

“Your client instructed FIRS through a letter dated December 13, 2012, to deal with Princess O. Kama (Your client’s agent) in relation to the contract. Through three separate letters dated December 20, 2012, your client instructed FIRS to pay to the client’s account with Access Bank plc. Please note that FIRS acted in compliance with your client’s instruction and with due diligence,” the FIRS letter stated.

The FIRS letter was a response to inquiry by Afe Babalola Chamber, lawyers to Citadel Oracle Concept Ltd and its MD, Mr. Benjamin Joseph, at that time.

The current charges filed by Falana on the basis of a fiat from the Attorney General is the third in a row as Mr Joseph had earlier filed charge no.CR/469/2022, which was struck out by Honorable Justice C. O. Oba of the FCT High Court, by an order dated November 8, 2022.

Determined to push through with his case, Mr Joseph filed the same charges before Honorable Justice A. S. Adepoju of the FCT High Court, and the charges were, once again, struck out by the Honorable Court on March 19, 2024, with Honorable Justice Adepoju holding that:

“This matter was brought in dead, extinct and should be confined into the dustbin of history…I hold that the instant suit is an abuse of the process of court, and it is hereby struck out accordingly.”

In a statement on Sunday, Zinox referenced recent news items in the media relating to certain charges filed by  Falana, purporting to act on a fiat donated to him by the Attorney General and Minister of Justice of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Mr. Lateef Fagbemi SAN, whom Zinox said may not have been properly briefed.

“We are sure that if the circumstances of this case were made available to the respected Honorable Attorney General, Lateef Fagbemi SAN, he would not have granted the purported fiat to Femi Falana,” Zinox said in the statement.

In the news reports, Falana was said to have filed a suit before Honorable Justice A. O. Ebong of the FCT High Court in charge no. FCT/HC/CR/985/24 in November 2024, a suit Zinox said was based on the same claims which various courts had in the past dismissed as falsehood and baseless.

“Our initial reaction was to ignore these publications as the usual campaigns of calumny that have been orchestrated against Zinox since 2014 by one Mr. Benjamin Joseph, the Managing Director of Citadel Oracle Concept Ltd, the client of Mr. Femi Falana SAN. However, we are persuaded to respond by the consideration that once falsehood is sustained over time, it tends to acquire the garb of truth.”

Zinox said the case arose from a contract between Citadel and Technology Distributions Limited over the supply of computers to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), stressing that the matter has no bearing whatsoever with Zinox and its promoter, Mr Leo Stan Ekeh.

“Firstly, we are shocked that Femi Falana would include Zinox in his purported fiat/charges, a company that has nothing to do with the transaction or allegations. For the records, we want to state as follows:

“Zinox has never been invited by any investigative agency, including the police and the EFCC, on these allegations. There is no report either by the police or the EFCC or any investigative agency where the name of Zinox was mentioned as a suspect. There is no judgment or ruling of any court where Zinox was mentioned as having anything to do, whatsoever, with the transaction or the allegations, the basis of the fiat/charges. Mr. Leo Stan Ekeh, the Chairman of Zinox, has never made any statement to the police in the course of any investigations and has never been mentioned in any court proceedings or judgment as part of any investigations relating to these allegations. Indeed, he has never met with Benjamin Joseph before,” the statement said.

Zinox cited instances in which Mr. Joseph lost the case and its adjunct suit. In a petition/case Mr. Joseph reported since 2013 and for which the Inspector General of Police charged him for false information in charge no.CR/216/16, he was unable to prove his allegations for more than 8years.

In another case filed by the EFCC at his instance against his partner, Princess Kama, in charge no. FCT/HC/CR/244/2018, Honorable Justice Danlami Z. Senchi of the FCT High Court (as he then was), dismissed as false all the allegations made by Benjamin Joseph, and imposed the sum of N20 million as damages against him for false petitioning in relation to these same allegations.

Zinox alleged that the current charges said to have been filed by Falana on the basis of a fiat from the Attorney General is the third in a row as he had earlier filed charge no.CR/469/2022, which was struck out by Honorable Justice C. O. Oba of the FCT High Court, by an order dated 8th November 2022.

In what appears to be forum shopping and abuse of court process, “he filed the same charges before Honorable Justice A. S. Adepoju of the FCT High Court, which charges were, once more, struck out by the Honorable Court on 19th March 2024, with Honorable Justice Adepoju holding that:

“This matter was brought in dead, extinct and should be confined into the dustbin of history…I hold that the instant suit is an abuse of the process of court and it is hereby struck out accordingly,” the statement said.

Zinox said it was shocked that a “learned Senior Advocate in the person of Femi Falana, would proceed to file the same charges before Honorable Justice A. O. Ebong of the FCT High Court in charge no. FCT/HC/CR/985/24 in November 2024.”

The statement said: “It is, therefore, very clear that the deliberate intention for instituting this new charge by Femi Falana SAN, to include the name of Zinox and its Chairman and other persons who were never part of the investigations, is to embarrass them, harm their reputation, and thereby damage their businesses. In the circumstance, we hereby demand a public apology from Mr. Femi Falana SAN, if he is unable to produce the evidence demanded above.

“We, therefore, assure all our business partners, stakeholders, and friends, that we are not ruffled by these spurious allegations. While our lawyers are set to defend the present charges purportedly filed by Femi Falana SAN, we shall not fail to explore all legal remedies against persons associated with orchestrating these false allegations and publications against us,” Zinox said.

The new fraud is corporate and Personal blackmail, which my companies and I have fallen victim to. I am sure you have read some in the newspapers where CEOs of responsible corporations in Nigeria are tagged fraudsters.

This is the work of blackmailers, and they partner with a few blogs, engage some innocent respected law firms for hyping and a few government officials to achieve their set objectives to destroy your corporate and personal reputations.

These negative online materials are then lifted by Google, Facebook, Instagram, and other social media platforms so that when people search your organisation or personal names, you are seen as a crook. This is with the intent to destroy your brand and affect your credit rating globally.

In some cases, they sue you in multiple courts in Nigeria for the noise and to have the content to continue to upload on various social media platforms.

Having set this platform against you, your competitors would leverage them to blackmail you by paying them handsomely.

In some cases, they secure a Fiat from the office of the Attorney General of the Federation to give an impression that the Federal Government is suing you for fraud, which allegations they cannot prove in courts.

This is to make more money from your competitors and extort you if you want such negative news taken down from social media pages.

I am a private person, but for the first time in the history of my entrepreneurship, I will tell you a bit about the Group I founded over 38 years ago. In Nigeria, humility is seen as stupidity. You are free to reconcile and appreciate the noise a certain Benjamin Joseph and Femi Falana chambers are making as an insult to themselves and the nation.

My integrated technology group is the largest on the continent, and we have the second-highest credit rating in the tech sector as far as I have been told in the whole of Africa.

What this means is that if you award us a contract of over $5 billion, we don’t need to borrow to execute because we are trusted. In 38 years of tech entrepreneurship, we have had a global turnover of over $23.7 billion, and we have not borrowed a kobo from any financial institution in the world, neither do we owe any. We have delivered the biggest tech projects across Africa and most of them you are aware of. I set out from day one as an orphan and an only child even though my parents were alive and I have five other siblings.

So, I am my own adviser. We built the Group as corporate collateral, we are trusted by all our over 35 global partners and most of them are listed in Fortune 100. We do our best to promote a trust economy.

A few weeks ago, I paid one of the leading multinationals over $31m for a debt one of the companies in the Group incurred due to Naira devaluation challenges, and this is one out of 31 multinationals. So, I am like someone on steroids 24 hours a day and manage to sleep 3 hours a day to maintain this global reputation.

Last week, I inspected our companies’ books, and the group exposure on credit extension to companies in Nigeria was over $89m. We have worked very hard to build knowledge, infrastructure, and spiritual capacities for our survival, and the Group is not focused on money but on our passion. Please research all these before our final meeting in the first quarter of 2025. I shall tell my full story one day.

Using what my companies TD Africa Distributions, Zinox Technologies, my colleagues in both companies, my wife, and I have suffered in the last 11 years in the hands of Benjamin Joseph of Citadel Oracle Concepts Ltd, an Enugu indigene based in Ibadan, and an alleged serial blackmailer and fraudster as a case study, you shall appreciate it.

I have never met Benjamin Joseph in my life, and neither has he directly or indirectly enquired or transacted any business with Zinox Technologies Ltd in the history of our existence.  Citadel Oracle Concepts Ltd was amongst 13 companies awarded HP PC contract by Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) in 2012, with instruction from the FIRS that the laptops must be sourced genuinely from HP Authorized Distributor in Nigeria, and TD Africa is the biggest HP Partner in Nigeria.

This is because the FIRS wanted to guard against grey or fake products and the challenges of after-sales support.

Citadel, through its authorised partner, Princess Kama (with a letter of Authority signed by Benjamin Joseph as the MD of Citadel Oracle Concepts Ltd), approached TD Africa to supply Citadel the laptops on credit as the company did not have enough funds to pay TD Africa.

The agreed condition was that FIRS should pay into a Citadel Account, where two staff members of TD shall be signatories to protect our pre-agreed invoice value, plus an additional guarantee from a responsible Nigerian.

Citadel raised a Board resolution to include two TD staff: Chris Eze Ozims and Shade Oyebode, as the signatories in an account Citadel opened with Access Bank.  TD Africa then supplied the systems to FIRS with serial number of each system captured.

This was the same process for the other companies awarded similar contracts by the FIRS who didn’t have enough funds to pay for the laptops.

FIRS, as a responsible FGN agency, paid all on time, and other companies immediately remitted the pre-agreed amount from the dedicated account to TD Africa Account.

But Benjamin Joseph, the CEO of Citadel, as I was told by his partner, Princess Kama, wanted to divert the fund and possibly pay us at his own time or never. However, Princess Kama, because her Uncle Chief Igbokwe (a long-time partner of TD Africa) was an additional guarantor for the credit extended to Citadel, disagreed with the plans of Benjamin Joseph.

She approached TD Africa signatories/representatives to debit the dedicated bank account for the pre-agreed amount, as Benjamin Joseph insisted on diverting the funds. TD representatives actioned immediately. This is where the problem started.

One year after this transaction was closed and forgotten, we did not know both partners had been fighting over the profit-sharing ratio.

Benjamin Joseph engaged Afe Babalola Chambers and claimed that his company was used to defraud FGN, that no laptops were supplied, and that he was not aware of both the contract and Citadel Account opened with Access Bank Plc.

According to Princess Kama, Chief Afe Babalola SAN, a distinguished lawyer of Afe Babalola Chambers, invited her to Ibadan and she obliged. When he raised the claims by Benjamin Joseph, she presented documentary evidence which was confirmed by FIRS management that Benjamin Joseph was aware of the contract, and indeed submitted a copy of his Travel Passport, a Letter of Acceptance of the FIRS Contract, and the appointment of Princess Kama as the duly authorised representative of Citadel on the FIRS contract.

In fact, her position was vindicated by the FIRS in a letter dated 11th February 2014 and signed by FIRS Head of Legal, Idrissa Kogo, addressed to the same Afe Babalola and Co. confirming that Mr. Benjamin Joseph was aware of the contract and even gave FIRS a letter dated 13th December, 2012 to deal with Princess Kama in relation to the contract.

In the same letter, FIRS confirmed that Citadel instructed them to pay the proceed of the laptop into the Citadel Account with Access Bank.

These matters would later be corroborated in the Witness Statement on Oath by Benjamin Joseph in a civil case he filed at the Lagos State High Court, accepting he was aware of the contract and gave those documents to Princess Kama.

According to Princess Kama, Chief Afe Babalola advised her to increase Benjamin Joseph’s share by an additional N2m from the N10million she had initially offered. However, Mr. Joseph insisted on taking all the profit from the transaction, and she refused.

It was after one year that Benjamin Joseph started writing all sorts of petitions to different police stations and EFCC offices both in Lagos and Abuja and publishing interviews against me and Zinox with his hired media agents.

I checked with Zinox and they never transacted any business with his company. When my staff started receiving invitations from the Police and EFCC, I had to independently investigate the transaction, and it was in order. I had no idea who both Benjamin Joseph and his partner Princess Kama were, and because a lady was involved, I had to investigate both and, particularly Princess Kama to establish their partnership, in case she was a member of a fraud syndicate and their true relationship.

I hired foreign-certified detectives who worked with local ones to establish their long-term relationships. They once belonged in the same church, nearly got married, and were partners for years.

They even had previous contract bids which Princess Kama did for Citadel Oracle Concept Ltd in many offices, including the Presidency. This cost me then $241,000. It was after I received a comprehensive report from the detectives that I asked my office to invite her to see me and she came and confirmed everything.

Mr. Joseph, who was properly investigated and documented, including his financial status, became more aggressive in publishing false claims and probably expected me to call him to negotiate as he was told I am a very rich man.

At one point, an AIG of Police invited us to meet in his office at SFU Milverton, Ikoyi, to find a solution because he was shocked that someone was writing a petition against my companies, my staff, and myself for less than N170m.

But at the last minute, I apologised to the AIG that I would not attend as Mr. Benjamin Joseph, who came from Ibadan for the meeting, was already blackmailing me in blogs and newspapers. He could use that meeting to a negative advantage.

Sometime in November 2013, the law firm of Afe Babalola, acting for Mr. Benjamin Joseph and his company, Citadel, wrote the first petition to the Special Fraud Unit (SFU) of the Nigerian Police at Milverton Ikoyi, that his signature was forged on the Board resolution and other documents.

The SFU investigated his petitions and wrote a report that his claim of the forged signature by his partner Princess Kama and his claim that no computers were supplied to FIRS were false.

He, again, petitioned the DIG of Police, then Dr. Solomon Arase, who finally became Inspector General of Police. Dr. Arase, according to what I was told, sent his crack team to visit FIRS office and investigated other claims and found out that Mr. Benjamin Joseph lied absolutely.

Consequently, the IG of Police charged him to court in Charge No. CR/216/16 before Honourable Justice Peter Kekemeke of the FCT High Court, for false information. Even though the Prosecution proved and closed its case in 2018, Mr. Benjamin Joseph could not defend or substantiate his allegations after being required many times by the court to open his defence.

He would change lawyers and absent himself from court, giving medical reasons. Rather than opening his defence, Mr. Joseph was spending time in the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation begging for the AGF to take over the case and discontinue the charges against him.

However, the then Attorney General, after reviewing the case file on each of those three occasions, wrote to the Police to continue with his prosecution to a logical conclusion. These directives were contained in three separate letters dated 10th February 2017, 7th May 2018, and 6th June 2022.

While the above case was on, Benjamin wrote the same lies to the then Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, claiming that his company was used to defraud the FGN. The VP rightly instructed the Chairman of EFCC to investigate and report back.

The EFCC, in their report, stated that the allegation was false and absolved TD and its staff of any wrongdoing because they are entitled to payment for the laptops they supplied on credit and did not forge any documents; in fact, they had no reasons to forge documents. However, the EFCC charged Princess Kama and her uncle, Chief Igbokwe, to court before Honourable Justice Senchi of the FCT High Court on the instigation of Mr. Benjamin Joseph.

But, again, Mr. Benjamin Joseph, was unable to prove his allegations against them, and in a judgment delivered in February 2021, Honourable Justice Danlami Senchi in Charge No. FCT/HC/CR/244/2018, discharged and acquitted both Princess Kama and Chief Igbokwe, and imposed a damage of N20 million against Mr. Benjamin Joseph for false petitioning and to serve as a deterrence against others who engage in false petitions that waste tax payers’ money.

More importantly, the judgment of Honourable Justice Senchi unequivocally stated that Technology Distributions and its staff were not liable for any fraud and that they were entitled to receive the proceeds of the laptops supplied on credit to Citadel Oracle Concept Limited, which were delivered to FIRS, and confirmed by them. This judgment is still subsisting and  Mr. Joseph has yet to pay the damage of N20 million imposed on him.

Before this point, Mr. Joseph and his media partners became desperate in blackmailing my wife, myself, and  Zinox Technologies in cheap blogs, as no responsible media ever published any of their press releases except Sahara Reporters, who were co-opted and refused to hear our side of the story.

All these years, none of my staff, companies or myself was invited or included in all these court processes except the EFCC court case where TD was only invited as a witness because Citadel  transacted with them. But his media blackmail was on me and Zinox and he smartly avoided his partner Princess Kama.

What Benjamin Joseph and his syndicate set up is a platform to work with my competitors who are willing to sponsor them to diminish my reputation by escalating in the media same case he could not defend and begged that it should be withdrawn.

This is the cause of the Nigeria digital census project delay till date and equipment worth over N300b are wasting in warehouses because my competitors and their sponsors at the highest level used them and engaged Femi Falana SAN to secure a Fiat against my name, my wife, my companies to tag us as frauds. By their action, Zinox almost lost a digital census contract of over $250m of which it was the most qualified.

However, then Attorney General of Federation, Mr. Malami SAN, when he found out that he was deceived by Femi Falana (SAN) in granting the Fiat, wrote him a letter dated 28th October 2022, withdrawing the Fiat and discontinuing the case against me and my company which they had filed, unknown to us.

This is because Femi Falana SAN did not disclose fully to the Attorney General the fact that there is a subsisting judgment given by Honourable Justice Senchi that has dismissed all the allegations of Mr. Joseph and asked him to pay N20 million damages.

He also did not disclose the fact that his client, Mr. Joseph, was still facing a criminal trial brought by the IG of Police against him.  So, a few days after, President Muhammadu Buhari, based on submissions at the Federal Executive Council meeting, approved that the contract be awarded to Zinox Technologies Ltd based on competence, capacity and experience. And it was awarded to Zinox Technologies after months of blackmail to eliminate us from the deal.

We delivered the project on time per our terms of engagement, but it was too late for the previous administration to conduct the Digital Census. What it means is that these blackmailers with support of people like Femi Falana caused the lack of credible data to move the country forward as all the equipment procured for the census are lying waste in warehouses nationwide. That’s shameless Nigerians for you and they walk the street as free men till date.

The arrival of the new Attorney General, Lateef Fagbemi SAN, changed everything. As a lawyer who had worked with Afe Babalola chambers (former lawyers to Benjamin Joseph), one of his early actions in office was to discontinue the Police case (CR/216/16) against Benjamin Joseph following the petition lodged by the chambers of Afe Babalola SAN at the SFU, Milvertion Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, on behalf of Mr. Benjamin Jospeh, that was found to be false.

As a distinguished lawyer that I respect, I expected him to request for source documents of the cases including one already decided against Joseph by Honourable Justice Senchi of the FCT High Court that had already found Mr. Benjamin Joseph of lying in his petition with a damage of N20 million imposed on him.

As the number one judicial officer of the nation, even if he wanted to save Mr. Joseph from going to jail, I expected the Honourable Attorney General to act dispassionately in the light of a subsisting case/order directed against him to refrain from discontinuing the Police Charge pending the determination of that case, and also in the light of the valid and subsisting judgment of Honourable Justice Senchi.

Instead, he, against all the glaring SFU and EFCC reports and the decided case, withdrew the Police case against Mr. Joseph on reasons best known to him, thereby setting Mr. Joseph free, and he has been celebrating the withdrawal of a case he reported and could not prove/defend for years.

To date, Benjamin Joseph acts as a blackmail platform for my competitors whenever we are competing on a bid, using nefarious publications in social media directed at me, my wife, and my company, Zinox.

Please, as stakeholders and future Nigerian trillionaires, learn from my experience. However, you must not dine with blackmailers, as technology will soon delete them from the tech ecosystem.