A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on Thursday, fixed April 23, 2024, for ruling in the application by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), seeking a substituted service of the charge on the former governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Yahaya Bello.
The Court presided over by Justice Emeka Nwite fixed the date after counsel for the EFCC, Kemi Pinheiro (SAN), and Yahaya Bello’s counsel, Abdulwahab Mohammed, SAN, presented their arguments for and against the oral application.
When the matter was called for the arraignment of Bello on a 19-count money laundering, he was conspicuously absent in court, but his team of lawyers, including Adeola Adedipe (SAN), were in court.
Mohammed, SAN, who announced appearance for the embattled former Governor Bello, challenged the validity of the charge on the basis that the court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the matter on the one hand and to have issued the arrest warrant against his client on the other hand.
Mohammed also told the court that a preliminary objection had already been filed before the court to the effect and therefore urged the court to vacate the arrest order, adding that a High Court of Kogi State had on February 9, 2024 restrained the EFCC from arresting, detaining or prosecuting Bello.
He specifically said that the ruling was a fundamental rights suit filed by Yahaya Bello, saying that the EFCC was a party in the matter.
Mohammed further said that two of the Senior Advocates of Nigeria representing the EFCC in the instant charge were also in the matter, adding that the order was challenged by the anti-graft at the Court of Appeal for which the matter has been fixed for hearing.
The Counsel to Bello noted that the arrest warrant the EFCC surreptitiously obtained from the court was an attempt to bring the court on a collision course with the Appeal Court, stressing that the issue of jurisdiction was a threshold that the court must address first.
Mohammed told the court that the charge ought not to have been filed because of the pending appeal, adding that contrary to Pinheiro’s submission, the court should direct that he should be served with the charge in the open court since he represented Bello.
Mohammed also argued that if the EFCC could not serve Yahaya Bello personally with the charge, they should formally apply so that the defendant could respond accordingly, saying that their objection to the whole charge and the arrest warrant were predicated on lack of jurisdiction which had not been dealt it.
In his argument, counsel to the EFCC, Pinheiro (SAN), disagreed with Mohammed’s submission, stressing that since the matter was fixed for Bello’s arraignment, Mohammed, who is counsel to the ex-governor, having announced appearance for him, could be served in the open court for the matter to proceed.
After listening to both arguments, the court adjourned to May 23, 2024, for ruling on substituted service.
Justice Nwite had on Wednesday, April 17, 2024, issued a warrant of arrest on Yahaya Bello. The court had also directed that Yahaya Bello be produced in court for his arraignment.
