Yahaya Bello, a former governor of Kogi State, again, on Wednesday, shunned the proceedings of the Federal High Court in Abuja scheduled for his arraignment on N80.2 billion money laundering charges on Wednesday.
The arraignment has been severally re-scheduled due to Mr Bello’s repeated absence from court.
It made the seventh court session on Wednesday that Mr Bello has snubbed since the first attempt by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to arraign him in April.
The lead defence lawyer, Abdulwahab Muhammed, a SAN, was also absent from court on Wednesday but was represented by his junior, A.M. Adoyi.
Mr Adoyi told the trial judge, Emeka Nwite, that his client filed appeals at the Supreme Court against the order of the Court of Appeal directing him to appear for arraignment and against the warrant of arrest issued against him.
According to Mr Adoyi, the appeals were filed at the Supreme Court on 23 September, which was five days after his dramatic visit to EFCC headquarters on 18 September.
“That means the most appropriate thing to do is to await the decision of the Supreme Court in the aforesaid appeal before taking any step for arraignment so as not to render the appellant’s appeal null or to pull the rug out from under the feet of the Supreme Court,” the lawyer said.
The defence lawyer’s argument contradicts Mr Bello’s earlier claim that he decided to submit himself to EFCC on 18 September because he had exhausted all legal mechanisms challenging his trial.
EFCC’s prosecuting counsel, Kemi Pinheiro, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), dismissed Mr Adoyi’s comment.
“Adoyi’s statement seeks to turn the court into an entertainment venue,” Mr Pinheiro said, urging the court to “use its coercive power to punish him as a lesson to juniors.”
He recalled that the court had adjourned several times for the defendant to present himself for arraignment. “Even sanctions have been imposed on his lawyers,” he said, in reference to a 17 July order of the court referring Mr Bello’s two most senior defence lawyers to the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) for probe over alleged professional misconduct.
“The Court of Appeal said the mode of service was good and proper service. The court ruled that the appellant shall not take any further step until he submits himself. But they took another step,” he said.
Mr Pinheiro said he was in court with two prosecution witnesses in hopes that Mr Bello would appear for his arraignment and trial would begin thereafter.
But Mr Adoyi insisted that the court should await the decision of the Supreme Court before going into the arraignment of the defendant.
After a back-and-forth the judge adjourned the case until 30 October for ruling and possible arraignment.