Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court Abuja has adjourned the suit instituted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, against the immediate past Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, to April 23rd.
The adjournment is for substituted service and possible arraignment of Bello for alleged N84bn money laundering.
When the matter was called for the arraignment of Bello on a 19-count money laundering charges against him, the former governor was not in court.
Counsel for the EFCC, Kemi Phinro, told the court that the immediate past governor of Kogi State was absent from court for his arraignment because he was being protected by someone with immunity.
“My lord, what happened yesterday was that a person with immunity came to whisk the defendant away. But what they forgot was that immunity does not attach to a building, but an individual.
“However, we know what to do. If it will take inviting the military to bring him here, we will do that because section 287 of the Constitution cannot be ridiculed.
“If he wants to play games, we will show him that the constitution is above every individual and you cannot fight the constitution.
“A former president of the United States was charged to court and he has been appearing for his trial. He did not file all sorts of things to frustrate the case.
“If the defendant believes that he is innocent, he should come and defend it here instead of filing frivolous applications to delay his trial,” EFCC’s lawyer added.
Though ex-governor Bello was absent, however his team of lawyers led by Mr. Abdulwahab Mohammed, SAN, was present who approach the court to vacate a warrant of arrest he said was dubiously obtained against Bello.
Justice Nwite had after the case was called up, queried the lawyer about the whereabouts of his client.
Mohammed, SAN, told the court that the ex-governor had February 9, secured an order from a High Court in Kogi State, which he said restrained the EFCC from inviting, arresting or prosecuting him over the subject matter of the instant charge against him.
He told the court that though an appeal the EFCC lodged against the ruling was still pending, it went ahead to file a charge against the defendant, “in defiance of that subsisting court order.”
Mohammed told the court that his client has already filed a preliminary objection to challenge the legal propriety of his planned arraignment and trial.
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“What they are trying to do is to bring this court in collision with the Court of Appeal by rushing to this court to obtain an ex-parte warrant of arrest for someone that is already a defendant.
“Our position is that this court has no jurisdiction to do any other thing than to take our motion challenging its jurisdiction to entertain this charge.
“What happened at Zone 4 Abuja yesterday, where they laid seige to the house of the former governor while he was in Lokoja waiting for judgement in his fundamental right enforcement suit, was unfortunate.
“A bloodbath was avoided. You don’t issue a warrant against a defendant who is already before the court and who has also briefed lawyers to defend him.
“They wanted the Court of Appeal to vacate the restraining order but the Appeal Court refused.
“Let them deny that they did not speak against the restraining order, then, we will cite them for professional misconduct.
“That a court gave an order in the morning and another court of the same coordinate jurisdiction issues a contrary order in the evening, is an invitation to anarchy.
“Our contention is that the defendant is not a fugitive and your lordship needs to be circumspect.
“We don’t need the arraignment to take place when we are saying that the court cannot even sniff the charge. Your lordship has to determine the issue of jurisdiction first because it is a threshold issue.
“They came behind doors to get an ex-parte warrant of arrest, when we had already joined issues with them before another court.
“When the defendant was a governor, he only travelled out of the country twice and he was recently in Lagos. This is not a man that you can chase away.
“Moreover, we are yet to be served with any process by the prosecution,” Bello’s lawyer added.
Meanwhile, he rejected attempt by the EFCC to serve him with a copy of the charge in the courtroom, insisting that he was bereft of the authority to accept the process.
Mohammed, SAN, argued that the prosecution has not made any effort to effect personal service of the charge on the defendant.
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