The Federal High Court sitting in
Lagos has lifted the travel ban it issued against former Minister of State for
Finance, Nenadi Usman.
Usman, who is being tried for an
alleged N4.9bn fraud, had told the court that she was suffering from breast
cancer.
Justice Rilwan Aikawa, in his
ruling yesterday, gave Usman permission to travel for three weeks between July
and August to the US but ordered her to surrender her passport to the court not
later than August 31, 2017.
Usman is being tried by the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission alongside a former Minister of
Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode; one Danjuma Yusuf and a company, Joint Trust
Dimensions Limited.
The defendants were first
arraigned on June 28, 2016 on 17 counts before Justice Muslim Hassan of the
same court.
But Fani-Kayode objected to being
tried before Justice Hassan on the grounds that he would not get justice
because Justice Hassan was a lawyer with the EFCC before he became a judge. The case was later transferred to
Justice Aikawa.
At the resumed proceedings on
Wednesday, Fani-Kayode’s lawyer, Mr. Norrison Quakers (SAN), urged Justice
Aikawa to first determine the prayer by his client to have the case transferred
to Abuja.
“Practice direction is clear on
this matter. This is what the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, in his
wisdom, has formulated. The rule is recognised by Section 490(d) of the
Administration of Criminal Justice Law (2015). Rules of the court are meant to
be obeyed,” Quakers argued.
But the EFCC lawyer, Mr. Rotimi
Oyedepo, relying on Section 396 of the ACJL, argued, among others, that
Quakers’ position was incorrect in law.
“I submit that it would amount to turning the law upside down to say that the substantive issue, which is the allegation as contained in the charge, cannot be taken without determining the application. Section 396 of the ACJL is higher in hierarchy and takes precedence over the practice direction,” he argued.
Ruling, Justice Aikawa upheld
Oyedepo’s argument after which the prosecution proceeded to call its first
witness, Olusegun Idowu.
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