A Federal High Court in Abuja yesterday returned the case file on the alleged $9.7 million terrorism financing case involving the Bauchi State Commissioner for Finance, Yakubu Adamu, and three others to the Chief Judge (CJ) for reassignment to a substantive judge.
Justice Emeka Nwite, who handled the case while sitting as the court’s vacation judge, made the order while remitting the case file to the Chief Judge following the conclusion of the court’s vacation.
In a ruling yesterday, the judge said since the case was a vacation matter and since the court’s vacation had ended, the normal thing was for the file to be returned to the Chief Judge for reassignment to a substantive judge for further proceedings.
Adamu, who is a former manager of a branch of Polaris Bank Plc in Bauchi State, is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for alleged terrorism financing and money laundering offences.
Adamu is being prosecuted alongside three others on a 10-count charge. The other defendants are: Balarabe Abdullahi Ilelah, Aminu Mohammed Bose and Kabiru Yahaya Mohammed, who are said to be Bauchi State’s civil servants.
They were arraigned on December 31, last year, during which they pleaded not guilty to the charge.
In a ruling on January 5, Justice Nwite refused to grant them bail because the offences with which they were charged threaten national security and public safety.
Justice Nwite ordered that the defendants be remanded in Kuje Prison until the conclusion of the case, granted accelerated hearing and adjourned till January 13 for the commencement of the trial.
When the case was called yesterday, no lawyer announced an appearance for the prosecution.
Lawyer to the defendants, Chris Uche (SAN), told the court that on January 5, the judge indicated that the court was adjourning till yesterday because it was sitting as a vacation court.
Uche added: “In obedience to the fixing of the case for today, the defendants have been produced from Kuje Prison and we, their lawyers, are also here for today’s proceedings,” he said.
The lawyer told the court that he met another lawyer, Adebayo Ojo (SAN), in another court, adding that he informed him that he had been engaged by the EFCC as the new lawyer to the prosecution.
He said Ojo told him that his junior lawyers would be in court for the case. But when the court requested whether any of the junior lawyers were in court for the prosecution, nobody responded.
Source; The Nation News