The Federal High Court, sitting in Abuja, on Thursday, adjourned the arraignment of the immediate-past governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, on an alleged money laundering case instituted against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), to June 27, following an agreement by the counsels to both parties.
A new date, June 27, had earlier been reportedly fixed for arraignment at the instance of the EFCC counsels.
There was, however, a mild drama in court when Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, announced appearance for EFCC and claimed ignorance of the agreement.
At the resumed hearing on Thursday, Counsel to the ex-governor, Adeola Adedipe, SAN, told the court that the EFCC lawyers approached AbdulWahab Mohammed, SAN, who is the counsel for the defendant, that the June 13 date would not be convenient for them to proceed and that they had to agree by way of convenience for another date to be set.
Adedipe, SAN, who was in court for another matter, was surprised when he heard that Oyedepo, SAN, was in court for the same Yahaya Bello/EFCC case.
“They (EFCC) agreed that junior counsels would be sent to court today to formally pick a date. And the registry can confirm this,” Adedipe said.