A Federal High Court judge in Abuja, James Omotosho, on Monday, threatened to withdraw from the trial of Ali Bello, a nephew of former Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello and Chief of Staff to the incumbent Governor Ahmed Ododo.
Mr Omotosho warned that he could return the case instituted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to the Chief Judge for a reassignment to another judge, if alleged misrepresentation of proceedings by the anti-graft agency continued.
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The judge issued the warning on Monday after Mr Bello’s lawyer, Abubakar Aliyu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), accused the commission of published untrue accounts of the developments in the previous proceedings on its website.
If the judge carries out his threat to withdraw from the case, it means the trial in which the 11th prosecution witness testified on Monday, would have to start afresh before another judge.
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The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the anti-graft agency filed the charges in 2022, accusing Mr Bello and co-defendant Dauda Sulaiman of fraud involving alleged diversion of funds from the Kogi State Government coffers during Governor Yahaya Bello’s administration.
In the 10 charges filed against the defendants, the EFCC accused them of fraudulently diverting approximately N10 billion from the Kogi State Government’s funds.
The case shares similarities with the one filed against former Governor Bello, who faces separate allegations of laundering N80 billion from state funds during his two terms in office. The EFCC claims that Messrs Bello and Sulaiman played crucial roles in these alleged financial crimes.
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Alleged misrepresentation of proceedings
Expressing displeasure on Monday over EFCC’s publication regarding the previous proceedings, defence lawyer, Mr Aliyu, told the judge “the prosecutor is subjecting my client (Mr Bello) to mob justice by making publications” that were allegedly untrue.
The lawyer alleged that the publication, which was on EFCC’s website, was distributed on various social media platforms.
“They (EFCC) said the 1st defendant made a payment of the house at Ikogosi Close in Maitama District and after he discovered that the house was under investigation by EFCC, he now returned the documents back,” Mr Aliyu said.
He said his client told him that he did not buy the property contrary to the allegation.
The lawyer, who gave a copy of the printout of the EFCC publication to the court, also said that a copy had already been served on the commission’s counsel.
“What is your reaction counsel,” the judge, Mr Omotosho, asked EFCC’s lawyer, Abbas Muhammed.
Responding after he went through the copy, Mr Muhammed said he could not verify the authenticity at the moment.
“I have seen the publication. At this point my lord, I cannot verify. I will have to verify with the media team,” he said.
The judge then gave him the go-ahead to verify and report back to the court in the next adjourned date.
“I want to say this, on the reportage of this proceedings. I won’t take it if it continues this way.
“I am going to take all your files and send them back to the CJ for reassignment.
“It is not only against the defendant but against the court,” the judge said.
Mr Omotosho said writing fictitious stories about court proceedings might make the public lose confidence in the court as it bordered on the integrity of the court.
“Now that this report is online, and if I now hold otherwise, how will the society see it?
“You create wrong impression in the society.
“I can’t be put in the public for analysis on what happens in court.
“You have to go and report back. This is annoying,” the judge said.
Mr Omotosho, who acknowledged the presence of accredited journalists in court, emphasised on the need for accurate reportage of what transpired in court.
He likened it to the case of Rivers State matter where some social media users attacked the court for its judgement which ruled in favour of Martins Amaewhule-led lawmakers after Governor Siminalayi Fubara voluntarily withdrew his counter-affidavit in the suit.
“I have had so much from social media.
“The day the Rivers matter was heard and the counsel applied to withdraw their application, I stood the matter down for one hour and 30 minutes to give the counsel the opportunity to consult, before he finally withdrew their counter affidavit,” he said.
Mr Omotosho said it was a different ball game on social media as some were saying that the judge did not consider the application filed by Mr Fubara in arriving at the decision.
“Let us stop this because it affects the integrity of the system,” he said.
11th prosecution witness testifies on purchase of N500 million property
Earlier, the General Manager of EFAB Properties Ltd, Segun Adeleke, testified as the 11th prosecution witness.
“My schedule includes recruitment, discipline, dismissal and more importantly, I head the team that concludes purchases of houses in the office,” the witness, led in evidence by EFCC counsel, Mr Muhammed, said.
Mr Adeleke, who said he had been in the company for 28 years, said Fabian Nwora is their chairman.
When the lawyer asked him if he knew a man called Shehu Bello, the witness responded in affirmative.
The witness said, in 2020, Mr Nwora, his boss, sent for him.
He said when he got to his chairman’s office, he met Shehu Bello.
“Before then, they had discussed a property at Maitama, No 1, Ikogosi Spring Close, that Shehu Bello will come and make the payment of N500 million for the property,” he said.
The witness said Shehu Bello paid the dollars equivalent of N500 million and that he made the enquiry from a bureau de change operator to confirm.
When Mr Muhammed asked Mr Adeleke how the money was paid, he said: “The money was received in cash.”
He said the house located at Ikogosi, Maitama in Abuja was given “No. 1,” on the close because it was the first building on the close and the houses there were not numbered.
READ ALSO: Court admits bank account documents as exhibits in Yahaya Bello’s trial
When asked if he had any other contact with Shehu Bello, the witness said: “Concerning our personal contact, it starts with the making of the payment. Every other contact continued with my chairman.”
During cross-examination, Mr Aliyu, who represented Ali Bello, asked the witness if his client was Shehu Bello and he said: “No My lord.”
Also, Olusegun Jolaawo, a SAN, who appeared for Mr Sulaiman, the 2nd defendant, asked if his client was Shehu Bello and the witness equally responded in the negative.
The judge, Mr Omotosho, after discharging the witness from the witness box, adjourned the matter until 7 and 9 May for continuation of trial.
(NAN)
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