Justice Rilwan Aikawa of a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos on Wednesday denied embattled former Minister of Aviation’s request to suspend his trial for alleged fraud pending the determination of his request for the case to be transferred to Abuja.
Justice Aikawa, however, granted the application by former Minister of State for Finance, Senator Nenadi Usman, for the release of her international passport in order for her to travel abroad for a medical appointment.
The judge, however, said Usman was permitted to travel for three weeks between July and August to the United States but must surrender her passport to the court not later than August 31, 2017.
At Wednesday’s proceedings, Fani-Kayode’s counsel Norrison Quakers SAN informed the court that it was yet to rule on a pending application for the case to be moved to the Abuja division of the court.
Although Justice Aikawa said the application was not in the court’s file, Quakers insisted that the application was filed on the day of the defendants’ re-arraignment and had been received and acknowledged by the EFCC.
The application, Quakers said, was jurisdictional in scope and should be determined before trial could commence.
“Practice direction is clear on this matter. This is what the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, in his wisdom, has formulated. The rule is recognised by Section 490(d) of the Administration of Criminal Justice LAW (2015). Rules of court are meant to be obeyed.
“There is a practice direction that guides the Federal High Court in situations like this. The direction says the court will not commence trial until the defendant’s application is taken, one way or another. It is trite that jurisdiction is the life of any adjudication. The second defendant (Fani-Kayode) has not said he does not want to be tried, he is saying he does not want to be tried in Lagos.
“Your Lordship is bound by Rules of Court, the ACJL and judicial pronouncements on the issue to determine it one way or another,” Quakers argued.
In his argument, EFCC prosecutor, Rotimi Oyedepo said, “I submit that it would amount to turning the law upside down to say that the substantive issue, which is the allegation as contained in the charge, cannot be taken without determining the application. Section 396 of the ACJL is higher in hierarchy and takes precedence over the practice direction.
“This application is challenging the competence of this charge in Lagos. What the defendant did was just to lift the same application decided before Justice Muslim Hassan and re-filed it here. This application, apart from being a gross abuse of court processes, cannot constitute a stay,” Oyedepo said.
Ruling, Justice Aikawa upheld the prosecution’s argument.
“I have listened to the erudite argument of counsel. In my opinion, practice directions, although having the force of subsidiary legislation, are meant to guide the court in criminal trials. Departure from it in some circumstances will not render proceedings fatal if done in the interest of justice and speedy conclusion of trial,” the judge ruled.
The court then allowed the prosecution to begin its examine its witness, Idowu.
The witness, who identified himself as a media consultant, said he got two contracts of N24 million and N6 million from Fani-Kayode through an intermediary, one Olubode Oke.
However, at the prosecution’s request, the court adjourned trial till Friday to enable the witness bring originals of invoices and receipts of the alleged transactions.
Usman, Fani-Kayode, one Danjuma Yusuf and a firm, Joint Trust Dimensions Limited were brought last June 28, before Justice Hassan by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
They were arraigned on a seven-count charge of conspiracy, unlawful retention of proceeds of theft and laundering of N4.9 billion.
The EFCC said they allegedly committed the offence between January 8 and March 25, 2015 ahead of the 2015 general elections.
But Fani-Kayode objected to being tried before Justice Hassan and the defendants were re-arraigned before Justice Aikawa on May 15, on a similar charge.
They pleaded not guilty to all the charges against them.
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