The Federal High Court, Abuja, has fixed 21 July for the arraignment of a former Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah, and others by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The judge, Inyang Ekwo, fixed the date after EFCC’s counsel, Hassan Liman, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), prayed the court to allow the defendants to take their plea, having filed the charge against them on 17 December 2020.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the EFCC had charged Ms Oduah alongside Gloria Odita, Nwosu Emmanuel Nnamdi, and Chukwuma Irene Chinyere.
Others include Global Offshore and Marine Ltd, Tip Top Global Resources Ltd, Crystal Television Ltd, Sobora International Ltd and others.
The arraignment of the defendants has been postponed for various reasons over 14 times since the case was filed in 2021.
The senator, who represented Anambra North Senatorial District at the 9th National Assembly, was scheduled to be arraigned on alleged N5 billion fraud and financial misappropriation while she served as the Minister of Aviation.
In the 25-count charge marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/316/2020, they are accused of conspiracy, money laundering and maintaining anonymous bank accounts with a commercial bank.
Monday’s hearing…
At the resumed hearing on Monday, Mr Liman said that on 15 June, the court drew the attention of counsel to a letter or petition written to the Chief Justice of Nigeria against Mr Ekwo, and the judge gave a directive to the EFCC to investigate to unravel the identity of the persons.
He said the commission had carried out the investigation and was able to trace the identity of the person via the telephone number.
According to the lawyer, he is said to be one Okolo Obinna Johnson, a promoter of two companies.
He said the effort was made through the search and linked BVN of the alleged person via the telephone number submitted and that the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) cooperated with the EFCC.
However, Mr Liman said the anti-graft agency tried to track the physical person, in conjunction with other security agencies, but was unsuccessful.
“This is how far the commission has gone in carrying out the directive of the court,” he said.
He assured the EFCC would not leave any stone unturned in bringing the culprit to book.
A defence lawyer, Kanu Agabi, a SAN, said he would not be silent when the court was threatened.
“No one should threaten our judges. It is up to the work of the judges that this country continues to survive,” he said.
Ogwu James, SAN, said the issue was not about the petition but their contact with the court.
He said though anybody had the right to write a petition, sending a message to the court was the issue.
The EFCC’s lawyer then said that the commission had gotten the call log of the number through their investigation.
The judge, who wondered how the person got his phone number, said, “That character was sending messages to me, thereby breaching my privacy.”
Mr Ekwo, who said the order to arrest the person was still subsisting, said: “The order was to find him, bring him to court and let me deal with the matter.”
He said the order given to the deputy chief registrar, Litigation of the court, to get the certified particulars of another organisation involved in the matter at CAC had been carried out.
He asked if anybody represented the organisation in the court, but no one stood up.
The judge then said that the organisation’s letter, the phone number and their names would be given to the EFCC to arrest them and bring them to court.
He expressed displeasure at how the trial was allowed to degenerate, saying, “The court is never without an option, but out of respect to you, I will not take those options.”
He said the matter would be tried to reach a conclusion.
Mr Ekwo said any defendant not in court anytime the matter is fixed for trial would be ordered to be arrested and remanded in detention.
Mr Liman, therefore, appealed that the defendants be ordered to take their plea, even as the investigation continued with persons behind the letter and the text messages.
But all the defence lawyers maintained that the matter was adjourned for the report.
The judge consequently adjourned the matter until 21 July to take the defendants’ pleas.