THE Federal High Court, Abuja, has adjourned until April 23 for ruling on the application filled by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), seeking a substituted service of the charge on embattled former governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello.
The trial Judge, Justice Emeka Nwite, fixed the date after Counsel for the EFCC, Kemi Pinheiro (SAN), and Bello’s lawyer, Abdulwahab Mohammed (SAN), presented their arguments for and against the oral application.
When the matter was called for the arraignment of Bello on a 19-count charge bordering on money laundering, the former governor was not in court.
But his team of lawyers, including Adeola Adedipe (SAN), was in court.
Mohammed, who announced appearance for Bello, challenged the validity of the charge on the ground that the court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the matter on the one hand and to have issued the arrest warrant against his client on the other hand.
He told the court that a preliminary objection had already been filed before the court to the effect, urging the court to vacate the arrest warrant order, as a State High Court of Kogi State had on February 9, this year, restrained the EFCC from arresting, detaining or prosecuting Bello.
The order, he said, was based on a fundamental rights suit filed by the former governor, to which two of the senior lawyers representing the Commission in the instant charge were also parties.
Mohammed said the order had been challenged by the EFCC at the Court of Appeal and the matter was already fixed for hearing, stressing that the arrest warrant the Commission secured from the court was an attempt to bring the court on a collision course with the appeal court.
He said the issue of jurisdiction was a threshold that the court must address first, arguing that the charge ought not to have been filed in view of the appeal.
Mohammed opposed Pinheiro’s submission that the court should direct that he should be served with the charge in the open court, since he represented Bello, saying he was not authorised to receive the charge on his client’s behalf.
He argued that if EFCC could not serve Bello personally with the charge, they should formally apply, so that the defendant could respond accordingly, even as he insisted that their objection to the whole charge and the arrest warrant on the ground of lack of jurisdiction had not been dealt with.
However, Pinheiro disagreed with Mohammed’s submission, saying the matter was fixed for Bello’s arraignment and Mohammed, having announced appearance for the ex-governor, could be served in the open court for the matter to proceed.
The court adjourned until April 23 for ruling on substituted service.
