Wanted ex-governor of Nigeria’s Kogi, Yahaya Bello has asked the Federal High Court in Abuja to transfer his case with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to Kogi.
Bello, in the letter he wrote through his team of lawyers led by Abdulwahab Mohammed, argued that only the Kogi High Court in Lokoja has the territorial jurisdiction to preside over the allegations that were brought against him.
Adeola Adedipe, one of the lawyers in Bello’s team, informed the court about the letter.
“After the close of the last sitting, I reported back to my team what transpired in court and I was informed that a letter had been written on behalf of the defendant to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court,” Adedipe said.
He continued, “Requesting in substance, that this matter be administratively transferred to the Federal High Court, Lokoja Judicial Division, which we believe has territorial jurisdiction to handle this matter.”
“That letter was received at the Chief Judge’s Chambers and the office of the honourable CJ. We wrote the prosecution team through Mr Iseoluwa Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, on June 13, notifying him that administrative steps had been activated, whereof he was directed to provide a response to the request for transfer of the matter,” Adedipe explained.
Adedipe acknowledged that there had been no response from the prosecution team in compliance with the CJ’s directive.
“We are also not in receipt of any decision that has been made on this request by the CJ,” he added.
He further stated that they have filed an affidavit to this effect and attached two documents referencing the same.
“I am not urging anything from the court at the moment although my duty is to the court,” Adedipe clarified.
He added, “I just wanted to present the facts as they were.”
The prosecution counsel, Kemi Pinhero, requested the court to compel the defence lawyer to explain why the defendant was not in court, despite an undertaking he made on June 13, to ensure his presence for his scheduled arraignment which has been adjourned multiple times.
Pinhero argued that the letter to the CJ did not fulfill the undertaking made by Bello’s counsel at the previous sitting.
She stated, “A situation where a petition is forwarded against a judge to the National Judicial Council does not stop proceedings on cases pending before the judge.”
Pinhero urged Justice Emeka Nwite, the trial judge, to dismiss the defence lawyer’s arguments as “dilatory and a further attempt to treat this court with scorn.”
The EFCC on Thursday, April 18, 2024, declared Bello wanted in connection with an alleged money laundering amounting to about N80.2bn.
The commission had also obtained a warrant of arrest against the former governor on April 17. At the scheduled arraignment on April 18, Bello was absent.
Abdulwahab Mohammed, counsel to Bello, had told the judge that the court lacked jurisdiction to grant the warrant of arrest in the first instance.
However, Emeke Nwite, presiding judge, twice refused to vacate the warrant of arrest. The ex-governor’s whereabouts remain unknown.