Nigerian Federal High Court judge, Justice Adeniyi Ademola, has
prayed the court to quicken hearing on allegation of fraud levelled
against him and his wife, Olubowale, who is also the Lagos State Head of
service.
The couple were arraigned on an 11-count charge on
December 13, part of which were alleged acts of criminal conspiracy to
receive gratification contrary to section 26 (1) (C) of the Independent
Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences (ICPC) Act, and punishable
under the same section.
They were accused in the first count of
the charge to have allegedly conspired to collect gratification from a
company, Joe Agi and associates, belonging to a Senior Advocate of
Nigeria (SAN), Joe Agi, to the tune of N30million, in March 2015.
Their
trial was brought before Justice Jude Okeke of the Federal Capital
Territory High Court Abuja and was earlier scheduled to continue January
18.
However, Justice Ademola approached the court on Monday with a fresh application for an accelerated hearing.
But
the counsel to the Federal Government, Segun Jegede, informed the court
of his client’s resolve to amend the charge to include Mr. Agi and
subsequently prayed for time to allow his client amend the charge.
He said the amended charge would be ready by Tuesday at the latest.
The
trial judge, Okeke, consequently adjourned the matter till January 11
for presentation of the amended charge. He promised that the case would
be slated for daily hearing, after Mr. Agi has been arraigned, from
January 16 to 18.
