The
forgery trial of Nigeria’s Senate President Bukola Saraki and his
deputy, Ike Ekweremadu has been postponed following the request of Aliyu
Umar, prosecuting counsel, asking for adjournment because he is
unprepared to prosecute the case.
Saraki and Ekweremadu had filed
applications before the court for the case to be dismissed, requesting
the court to decline jurisdiction in the matter.
One of the other two defendants in the
case, Salisu Maikasuwa, a former clerk of the national assembly and had
filed similar applications.
The federal government’s counsel said he
had “internal problems” and therefore could not respond to the
applications of the defendants in the case.
“Just now, I became aware of a motion by
the first defendant and served on us on September 26. The motion is
fundamental because it is asking your lordship to decline jurisdiction
and quash the charges. It is a short notice,” Umar said.
“Under the circumstances, I have not
filed anything. It is fundamental to fair hearing. Under the
circumstances, I will ask for an adjournment to enable me to respond to
the motion.”
The matter is being heard at the federal
capital territory high court before Justice Yusuf Haliru who asked
Umar if he had responded to other motions filed by the defendants, the
prosecuting counsel said: “I have not, there are some internal problems
that I need to sort.
“Honestly, I’m not ready for this motion. If it is only just two days, grant us the adjournment to respond to the motion.”
But Ikechukwu Ezechukwu, counsel to
Maikasuwa, said that there was no need to adjourn the case because
Wednesday was scheduled for trial.
Mahmud Magaji, counsel to Benedict
Efeturi, former deputy clerk of the national assembly, the second
defendant, objected to the application for adjournment.
“The act of prosecution is serious
business, especially a criminal charge. The office of the
attorney-general, which is the chief prosecuting counsel, was served
months ago. They had all the opportunities to respond to our
applications,” he said.
“I urge your lordship not to allow us to
descend to the internal working of the prosecution. In view of this,
I’m objecting to the application for adjournment.”
On his on part, Paul Erokoro, counsel to Saraki, the third defendant, said that the application had no merit.
“On behalf of the third defendant I
submit that the application has no merit. If the attorney-general has
not deemed it fit to pass the entire case file to the counsel, then we
should be allowed to move our motion. We are ready to proceed,” he said.
Joseph Daodu, counsel to Ekweremadu, the fourth defendant, also opposed the application.
“On our part we are ready to go,” he said “We oppose the application for adjournment.”
After listening to the parties, the judge adjourned the case to October 7 to hearing of the motions and trial.
Additional reports by TheCable
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