The Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Adamu Abdu-Kafarati, has granted the request by the President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr Paul Usoro, for a change of judge in the N1.4bn fraud charges filed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
It was learnt on Monday that following Usoro’s letter to the CJ, his case had been withdrawn from Justice Muslim Hassan of the Federal High Court in Lagos and re-assigned to Justice Chuka Obiozor of the same court.
The EFCC had on December 18, 2018 arraigned Usoro on 10 counts before Justice Hassan, who admitted him to a N250m bail on the same day.
Prior to the arraignment, Usoro, through his legal team, led by Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), had informed Justice Hassan of a December 17, 2018 letter, which he wrote to the Chief Judge seeking the transfer of his case to another judge for an undisclosed reason.
Olanipekun said Usoro would want the case transferred to either Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, or Abuja or that if the case would remain in Lagos, it should be transferred to “any other honourable judge apart from my noble Lord.”
Olanipekun described Usoro’s request as innocuous, arguing that he had a right to make the request. He urged Justice Hassan to wait for the decision of the CJ on Usoro’s request before proceeding with the case.
However, the prosecuting counsel for the EFCC, Mr Rotimi Oyedepo, opposed Olanipekun, describing his request as a temporary stay of proceedings, which, he said, Section 306 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015 had outlawed.
“My Lord cannot act in anticipation of a yet-to-be-taken administrative decision of the Chief Judge to keep this matter in limbo,” Oyedepo argued, insisting that Usoro must be arraigned on December 18.
In his ruling, Justice Hassan agreed with Oyedepo and ordered that Usoro be arraigned.
After pleading not guilty to the charges, Justice Hassan admitted the NBA President to bail and then adjourned till February 5, 2019 for trial.
