Justice Nwite had to adjourn to June 27, based on an agreement reached on June 7, between the EFCC and the defence legal teams.
The EFCC lawyer Rotimi Oyedepo SAN, had told the court that, “My Lord, this case was called and the defendant is copiusly absent again today. I am waiting to hear from the SAN on whose undertaking the court agreed to adjourn for plea taking.
Contrary to the submission of the EFCC lawyer, a lawyer in the defence team, Adeola Adedipe SAN, had insisted that both legal teams met and agreed that their juniors should come to the open court and take the new date of June 27.
Adeola expressed dismay that despite the agreement, he learnt that the EFCC lawyer, Oyedepo came to court for hearing of the matter.
Adedipe told the court that the EFCC lawyers had approached Aliyu Abdulwahab SAN, the lead counsel to Bello, that the June 13, date would not be convenient for them to proceed, and that Wahab had to agree by way of convenience for another date to be set.
When the Judge enquired from Oyedepo if he was aware of the meeting, he said, “I am not aware of any meeting. My concern is the sanctity of this court. If there was an agreement to fix the matter on June 27, it doesn’t mean that the defendant would be away without coming to court”.
Further more, Adeola told the court that “They (EFCC) agreed that junior counsel would be sent to court today to formally pick a date. The registry can confirm this just as he wondered why Oyedepo came to court.
“The EFCC lead counsel, Kemi Pinhero SAN, has been calling us to say today is not convenient,” he added.
“Under 266 of ACJA, there are instances when defendants don’t need to come to court and this is one of instance.
“We came here to pick a date; of what use will it be for the defendant to come here? It is the prosecuting counsel that approached us, we did not approach them. We have nothing to hide, Adedipe stated.
More so, Adeola said, “There is a disalignment on the transmission of information between the EFCC lead counsel and the prosecutor.
“Unknown to me, Oyedepo was already seated in court and to me, it’s an integrity issue.
“What the prosecutor has done this morning is an ambush intended to put the defendant once again in the realms of social oprobrium, Adeola said.
However, when it was clear that there was a meeting between counsel, the court in a ruling adjourned the matter.
“I have listened to counsel, ordinarily, that the parties had a meeting wouldn’t have made the defendant not to be in court, the court noted.
Having apologised to the court and the prosecution, Adeola took a fresh undertaking to produce Bello in court for plea taking.
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