The Justice Nnamdi Dimgba of the Federal High Court has adjourned to April 27, 2017 for further hearing on a case involving a cousin of ex- president Goodluck Jonathan, Robert Azibaola, his wife, Stella and their company, One plus Holdings.
The prosecuting counsel, Francis A. Jirbo, in an oral application today, lamented the difficulty the prosecution was having in obtaining its next witness.
“My Lord, we shall be craving the indulgence of the court for an adjournment to present the next witness. We are having issues obtaining the next witness. Our witnesses have been listed in order of sequence. We will not want to break the chain of the sequence”, he said.
According to him, “the EFCC has 6 more witnesses to present, three of which are not within the Commission. We would try our best to have the next witness presented in court in the next adjourned date”.
Responding, Azibaola’s counsel, Gordy Uche, said he would not be objecting the application, but was curious that the EFCC could not find its witness. He, however, added that, “we might be constrained to ask the court to strike out the case in the event the EFCC fails to bring the witness in the next adjourned date”.
Justice Dimgba after listening to the submissions of both counsels granted Jirbo’s application and adjourned the case.
Azibaola and his co-accused are facing trial on a 7-count charge of money laundering, criminal breach of trust and corruption
They were alleged to have diverted $40million meant for the supply of Tactical Communication kits for Special Forces which was transferred from the Account of the Office of the National Security Adviser, ONSA, with the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to the domiciliary account of their company One Pius Holdings.
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