The retrial of former Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa, his two sons and others over alleged N1.35 billion frauds was Friday stalled at the Federal High Court in Abuja.
The case, which is now reassigned to Justice Peter Lifu, could not proceed due to the absence of the defendants in court.
Although the lawyer to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Chile Okoroma, SAN, and counsel to the defendants, Joe Agi, SAN, were in court, the defendants were conspicuously absent.
Agi, while addressing the court, said the hearing notice for the proceedings was received late yesterday at about 5pm.
The lawyer said the defendants, who are based in Kano State, could not make it since there was no available aircraft to convey them to Abuja.
Agi, however, undertook to produce them in the next adjourned date.
Okoroma, who appeared for the EFCC, sought a re-assignment of the matter back to the former trial judge, Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu, who handled the case.
He said a letter had been written to the chief judge in this respect.
However, Agi said he was yet to get the letter.
Justice Lifu then asked Okoroma, the former Director of Legal Services in the EFCC, if he was still in service.
“Are you part of the EFCC? Are you still employed by EFCC?” the judge asked.
“No my Lord,” Okoroma responded.
“The onus of your protest is that you want my Lord, Hon Justice Ojukwu, to come from Calabar to take the case,” Justice Lifu said.
The judge, who observed that the case had lingered since 2015, said there is the need to commence trial on time.
“The CJ assigned the case to me and it is my duty to start hearing, as an obedient servant,” he said.
The judge then directed Okoroma to avail a copy of the letter to Agi, who said there were objections he would want to raise.
The case was subsequently adjourned until April 1 for hearing.
The Supreme Court had, on Jan. 16, ordered a trial of the former governor and others over alleged N1.35 billion fraud.
A five-member panel of the apex court issued the directive in two unanimous judgments delivered in the two appeals filed in the name of the Federal Government by the EFCC.
Both appeals were against the July 25, 2023 judgments by the Court of Appeal in Abuja, which upheld the no-case submission made by Lamido and others and struck out the 37-count charge on which they were being prosecuted, on the grounds that the Federal High Court, Abuja lacked the jurisdiction to hear the case.
In the lead judgments of the Supreme Court, Justice Abubakar Umar, set aside the judgment of the Court of Appeal and affirmed the earlier decision by Justice Ojukwu of the Federal High Court, Abuja which overruled the no-case submissions by Lamido and others and ordered them to enter their defence.
The EFCC, in the 37-count charge, among others, accused Lamido of abusing his position as governor between 2007 and 2015, allegedly laundering sums of money received as kickbacks from companies that were awarded contracts by the Jigawa State Government under his leadership.
The other defendants charged alongside Lamido are: his two sons – Aminu and Mustapha; Aminu Wada Abubakar and their companies – Bamaina Holdings Ltd and Speeds International Ltd.
