A new twist has played out in the move to arraign and try the former Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, in court over some allegations.
This is as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) unexpectedly abandoned its earlier request to reschedule the arraignment of Bello, from June 13 to June 27, without notifying the defendant’s legal team.
A new hearing date, June 27, had reportedly been set for the money laundering case against Bello at the behest of the EFCC’s lawyers.
During the resumed hearing on Thursday, Bello’s counsel, Adeola Adedipe, SAN, informed the court that the EFCC lawyers had previously approached Aliyu AbdulWahab, SAN, the defendant’s counsel, indicating that the June 13 date was inconvenient for them. AbdulWahab had agreed to reschedule for another date.
Adedipe expressed surprise when he discovered that EFCC lawyer, Rotimi Oyedepo, was present in court.
“They (EFCC) had agreed that a junior counsel would appear in court today to formally reschedule the date. The court registry can confirm this,” Adedipe said.
“Kemi Pinhero, SAN, has been calling us to say today is not convenient,” he added. Pinhero is the lead counsel.
Despite the EFCC’s decision to seek a later date for the arraignment, Bello was prepared to appear in court on Thursday.
“Under Section 266 of the ACJA, there are instances when defendants don’t need to be present, and this is one of them. We came here to pick a date. What purpose would the defendant’s presence serve? The prosecuting counsel approached us; we have nothing to hide,” Adedipe stated.
The court has now scheduled the arraignment for June 27.
