Ladoja: Court threatens to arrest Oyo State AG, staff over ‘refusal’ to appear in court

A Federal High Court in Lagos on Wednesday threatened to order the arrest of the Commissioner for Justice and Attorney-General of Oyo State, Oluwaseun Abimbola, and a staff of the Ministry of Commerce, Yinka Fatoki, for ignoring court summons.

The duo were requested to appear in the on-going trial of Senator Rasheed Ladoja and one of his aides, Waheed Akanbi, over alleged an N4.7 billion fraud.

The court threatened to order the arrest of the duo on Wednesday when Ladoja’s lawyer, Bolaji Onilenla, cimplained about the continued refusal of the commissioner and Fatoki to release the documents pertaining to the sale of the shares of the Oyo State Government.

Onilenla had while cross-examining the second prosecution witness, Adewale Atanda, drew the court’s attention to the difficulty he has been encountering in retrieving the documents from the custody of the duo.

“After having served the AG of Oyo State and one, Mr Fatoki in the Ministry of Commerce, to produce specific documents relating to the issues of shares pursuant to Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) we regretted that after exhausting diplomatic means to compel them to produce these documents, they have refused to do so.

“We shall be constrained to invoke the consequences of non-compliance spelt out in Section 243 of the ACJA against them.

“These documents sought to be produced are quite central and germane to our defence and we intend to use them through the witness.

“We will apply that warrant of arrest be issued against them if they fail to produce the documents by tomorrow,” he averred.

In his submissions on the issue, Akanbi’s lawyer, A. Olumide-Fusika, sought for the intervention of the prosecution in the matter.

EFCC’s lawyer, Oluwafemi Olabisi, while responding noted that the first defendant’s lawyer is at liberty to conduct his case the way he wants it.

“No summon has has been served on the prosecution. I took exception to the dragging of EFCC into the issue. I had no influence on the office of the Oyo State AG”, he said.

While commenting on the issue, Justice Mohammed Idris said it is wrong for the two government officials to ignore court’s orders and that he will not hesitate to issue a bench warrant against the duo, if he was asked to do so.

“I have looked at the record of court and there is an evidence that there was a summon dated February 7, 2017 to Mr. Yinka Fatoki of the Oyo State Ministry of Commerce.

“A subpoena was also issued on the AG of the state on February 24, 2017. Since these processes were served, the duo have a responsibility to appear in court. They have no choice but to honour the summons that have been served on them.

“They have no right to stay away from court where summons have been issued on them.

“When properly called upon, the court will issue a warrant for their arrest, if they refuse to show up in court”, Justice Idris said.

The Judge thereafter adjourned the matter till Thursday for continuation of trial.

It would be recalled that the anti-graft agency had informed Justice Idris that Ladoja, allegedly converted a sum to the tune of N1,932,940,032.48 owned by the state to their personal use through a company, Heritage Apartments Limited.

Specifically, the EFCC pointed accusing fingers at Ladoja for removing £600,000 (about N240,219,945) from the state coffers in 2007 and sent same to Bimpe Ladoja in London.

The Commission further alleged that the former governor bought a N42 million armoured Toyota Land Cruiser using public funds.

The anti graft agency also contended that the former governor converted N728,600,000 and another N77,850,000 in 2007, and allegedly transferred N77, 850,000 to Bistrum Investments, which he nominated to help him buy a property, Quarter 361, in Ibadan.