By Muhammad Sulaiman
A Federal High Court in Abuja has fixed April 1 for the fresh arraignment of former Jigawa State governor, Sule Lamido, over an alleged N1.35 billion fraud.
Justice Peter Lifu scheduled the new date after Lamido and his two sons, Aminu and Mustapha Lamido, failed to appear in court to take their plea on Friday.
The former governor and his sons are expected to be re-arraigned on charges filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which alleges that they were involved in fraudulent contract awards used to siphon public funds.
Counsel to the defendants, Joe Agi (SAN), apologised for their absence, explaining that they had received notice of the trial on Thursday evening. He told the court that Lamido and his sons reside in Kano and could not travel to Abuja at short notice.
However, counsel to the EFCC, Chile Okoroma (SAN), expressed surprise at the defendants’ absence, insisting that they had been duly served with the hearing notice.
Okoroma also informed the court that the EFCC had written to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice John Tsoho, requesting that the initial trial judge, Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu, who has since been transferred to Calabar, be returned to Abuja to continue hearing the case.
Justice Lifu described the EFCC’s request as an administrative matter to be decided by the Chief Judge, before adjourning the case to April 1 for the defendants’ arraignment.
The EFCC had filed a 27-count charge against Lamido, his two sons, and several companies in 2015, accusing them of laundering about N1.35 billion allegedly diverted from Jigawa State through a complex money-laundering scheme.