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Mr. Fani-Kayode is being tried for alleged graft by the EFCC.
The prosecution of Femi Fani-Kayode, a former Aviation Minister, took a fresh twist, Monday, after Festus Keyamo, the prosecution’s lead counsel, sought the transfer of the trial to another judge.
Mr. Fani-Kayode is accused by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, of laundering N230 million when he was a minister.
Mr. Keyamo is prosecuting the case at the Federal High Court, Lagos, on behalf of the EFCC.
Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia, the trial judge, adjourned the trial indefinitely pending the decision of Ibrahim Auta, the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, on the transfer request.
Mr. Keyamo said that he wanted the trial transferred to another judge after Mrs. Ofili-Ajumogobia questioned his law firm’s capacity to prosecute the matter.
The lawyer began Mr. Fani-Kayode’s prosecution in 2008.
However, last month, following an application filed by Mr. Fani-Kayode’s lawyer, the judge barred Mr. Keyamo’s Chambers from continuing with the prosecution until they provide a fiat from the Attorney General of the Federation’s office.
“The Supreme Court has said it again and again that it is bizarre when a lawyer appears before a court and the judge asks ‘where is your letter?’” Mr. Keyamo said in his letter to the Chief Judge.
“The Supreme Court said it is bizarre for the court to ask that kind of question,” he added.
Mr. Keyamo informed the judge that he had received a fiat from the Attorney-General of the Federation instructing him to prosecute the case.
“As a consequence of that, we have written a letter to the Honourable Chief Judge of the Federal High Court to transfer this matter from this court and to transfer it to another judge,” he said.
But the fiat from the Attorney General’s office presented by the lawyer was dated June 24, 2013, suggesting that Mr. Keyamo had prosecuted the former minister since 2008 without a valid approval from the office of the chief law officer of the Federation.
The document was apparently prepared after Justice Ajumogobia insisted on a fiat before trial could continue.
Ifedayo Adedipe, counsel to Mr. Fani-Kayode, urged the court to strike out the case on the grounds that it would be “oppressive” for Mr. Keyamo to be requesting for a transfer to another judge.
Mrs. Ofili-Ajumogobia turned down the request.
Another lawyer to Mr. Fani-Kayode, Tayo Adegbite, said after Monday’s hearing that the fact that his client had been standing trial since 2008 without a fiat from the Attorney General’s office was unfair and wicked.
“This is persecution and not prosecution and such wickedness is rarely seen,” Mr. Adegbite said in a statement. “When he was challenged in court by our lead counsel and the judge about the fact that he had no fiat he lied and said he had one all along and then he quickly went to procure one just last month from the Attorney General which was 4 and a half years late. Is that justice? Fiats do not operate retroactively.
“Keyamo was caught prosecuting Chief Fani-Kayode illegally for almost four and a half years and in front of no less than four different judges when you include the magistrate court in Abuja in 2008 and now he is complaining that questions should never have been asked about who sent him to do so. This is most unfair and it is clear that Keyamo has a personal axe to grind with our client.”
Last February, Mrs. Ofili-Ajumogobia became the third judge to handle the trial since Mr. Fani-Kayode’s arraignment in 2008 over a 47 counts of money laundering charges.
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