- Retrial of Sule Lamido and others overalleged ₦1.35bn fraud stalled
- Defendants absent during proceedings at Federal High Court Abuja
- Defence says hearing notice arrived late Thursday evening
- Court expected to fix a new adjourned date
The retrial of former Sule Lamido, his two sons and others over an alleged ₦1.35 billion fraud suffered a setback on Friday at the Federal High Court after the defendants failed to appear in court.
The case, which was recently reassigned to Peter Lifu, could not proceed due to the absence of the defendants.
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Although counsel for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Chile Okoroma, SAN, and defence counsel Joe Agi, SAN, were present in court, the defendants were not in attendance.
Addressing the court, Agi explained that the notice for the hearing was received late on Thursday at about 5 p.m.
According to him, the defendants are based in Kano and could not travel to Abuja because no flight was available.
However, the defence counsel assured the court that the defendants would appear on the next adjourned date.
During the proceedings, Okoroma urged the court to return the case to Ijeoma Ojukwu, who had previously handled the matter.
He informed the court that a letter had already been sent to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court requesting the reassignment.
In response, defence counsel Agi stated that he had not been served with the said letter.
Justice Lifu also sought clarification from Okoroma regarding his current status with the anti-graft agency.
“Are you part of the EFCC? Are you still in the employment of the EFCC?” the judge asked.
The case was subsequently unable to proceed, and the court is expected to fix another date for the continuation of the retrial.