N5.2bn Aviation fraud: Court to decide ex-minister Borishade’s bail situation on Wednesday

Mr. Borishade is accused of fraud while he was Aviation Minister.

An Abuja High Court will on Wednesday deliver ruling on whether to revoke the bail it granted former Aviation Minister, Babalola Borisade.

Justice Abubakar Umar fixed the date after Mr. Borisade; his aide, Tunde Dairo; and Rowland Iyayi, a former managing director of the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency failed to attend their trial for the second time.

On Monday, Mr. Umar gave an order for Messrs Borishade, Dairo and Iyayi to appear before the court unfailingly.

When the matter was called, counsel to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Daniel Penda, told the court that the counsel to the accused persons, Kehinde Ogunwumiju, had served him with a letter, seeking for an adjournment.

But at the resumed sitting of the court on Tuesday, the trio was not in court as ordered.

The counsel to Mr. Borisade, Bridget Omo-learhia, apologised to the court over the inability of her client to attend his trial on July 8.

Ms. Omo-learhia said that the absence of the first accused was as a result of misinformation.

“My lord the first accused was not in court yesterday and today because his senior counsel informed him that the matter will not go on.

“Because the accused’s counsel, Mr. Kehinde Ogunwumiju, sent a letter of apology, seeking for an adjournment,” she said.

She submitted that the move was to enable Mr. Borisade and his counsel to attend the 50TH anniversary of Afe Babalola`s legal practice.

“My lord, we are sorry because we misinformed the first accused,” she said.

In his submission, counsel to Mr. Dairo, Ebuka Nwanze, also apologised for failure to guide his client on the right date for trial.

“We apologise and urge the court to forgive us, this will not repeat itself again,” he said.

The EFCC counsel, Mr. Penda, however, opposed the submission of both counsels, saying that the reasons given for the absence of the accused persons were not satisfactory.

Mr. Penda argued that the two counsels had no right to give permission to an accused to stay away from trial.

“My Lord, the reasons being advanced by the accused counsel are rather cosmetics and not satisfactory,” he said.

Mr. Borisade is standing trial alongside Messrs Iyayi, Dairo and Eider, an Australian, over the alleged mismanagement of the N5.2 billion Aviation Safe Tower contract.

They were arraigned by the EFCC on a 15-count charge of bribe-taking and forging aviation contract documents on November 19, 2009.

(NAN)