Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Abuja has postponed the proceedings in the money laundering case against former Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello, brought by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), to September 25.
The court announced on Wednesday that the case would proceed despite the defendant’s appeal. Bello’s attorney had requested a delay in the proceedings pending the appellate court’s decision on an earlier arrest warrant and other lower court rulings.
Abdulwahab Mohammed (SAN), representing Bello, argued that the court should not advance the case until the appeal’s outcome was determined. However, Kemi Pinheiro, the EFCC’s counsel, opposed this, noting that no documentation from the Court of Appeal indicated a request for the lower court to pause the case.
Justice Nwite questioned whether it would be judicial misconduct to continue the case after receiving the motion and affidavit about the ongoing appeal. He urged the court to focus on the decision regarding the arguments presented on June 27.
The defense counsel claimed the judge had been misled on June 27 and requested the proceedings from that day be removed from the record. In his ruling, Justice Nwite stated, “The grant of stay of proceedings is at the court’s discretion, and since it is an issue of discretion, no one can give an authority for the judge to rely on. The judge only needs to exercise this power judicially.”
Justice Nwite noted that continuing the case amid jurisdictional issues would be judicial misconduct but later recognized that the defendant appeared to be using the appeal to delay proceedings. He cited previous Court of Appeal judgments on similar matters.
The judge also approved the withdrawal of the defendant’s counsel, Adeola Adedipe (SAN), from the case and referred potential misconduct to the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee for investigation.
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