Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Abuja has rejected the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s (EFCC) request to arraign Yahaya Bello, a former governor of Kogi State, without his lawyer being present.
Bello, who had been evading arrest for several months, was finally brought to court on Friday for another arraignment on a 19-count charge bordering on alleged N80.2 billion fraud, but he appeared in court without his lawyer.
He claimed he only found out about the arraignment late Thursday night, leaving him no time to contact his legal team.
Responding, counsel to the EFCC,
Mr. Kemi Pinheiro (SAN), insisted that Bello’s arraignment should proceed with or without his lawyer.
However, Justice Nwite refused the request on the grounds that such would amount to a breach of Bello’s fundamental rights to a fair hearing.
The court said it is also refusing to go ahead with the arraignment on the premise of the claim of the defendant that he got to know about the arraignment late yesterday night.
Nwite also ordered that hearing notice must be served on Bello’s lawyers to enable their attendance in court.
While delivering a short ruling, Justice Nwite said: “The matter came up on the 30th of October 2024. It was adjourned to 21st January 2025. From the statement of the defendant, his lawyers are not aware of today’s date. In the interest of a fair hearing, I will not proceed with the arraignment.
“The prosecution should serve the defendant’s lawyer with the application for abridgement of time while we come back to take that.
“This matter is peculiar. It is peculiar in the sense that we have already agreed on a date, which is in January.
“It will be unfair if the matter is taken without the defendant’s counsel. It would be a different thing if the defendant had no counsel.”
The judge, however, fixed December 13 for arraignment and directed that Bello should be in the EFCC custody till the date.
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