N1.2 BN FRAUD CASE: FAYOSE SEEKS ADJOURNMENT TO CAMPAIGN FOR ELECTIONS

Counsel to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Mr. Rotimi Jacobs and that of former governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose, Mr. Ahmed Raji, yesterday engaged in a heated argument over what date to pick for the continuation of the case involving the commission and the former governor.
Fayose is standing trial over alleged misappropriation of state's funds for a poultry project when he was in office.

The argument arose when Justice Adamu Hobon asked both counsel to pick a date for adjournment, after listening to the two witnesses called by the EFCC to testify in the case.

Counsel to the former governor, Mr. Raji, asked the court to pick any date in the first week of July as the next adjourned date. He said this was to enable his client have enough time to prepare for the June 21 governorship election in which he is standing as candidate of the PDP.

Raji said: " My client has taken a new status. And as we all know, campaign is not an easy thing and it is time consuming. There will be a lot of pre-election activities including screening officially and unofficially by INEC. My Lord, we shall be pleading that we come back on the first week in July so that the accused person will give the maximum attention to the call by the people of Ekiti."

He warned that any attempt to muscle his client into "a very hasty case" when he is supposed to be campaigning will be pre-judicial.

But Jacobs, who was not satisfied with Raji's argument, urged the court to allow accelerated hearing to enable quick dispensation of the case so that the accused will go with clean hands to face the electorate at the next election.

Jacobs added: "It is in the interest of the accused to know his fate before the election. It is in his interest that the matter be heard so that his character can be cleared before he faces the electorate. We want the court to take its jurisdiction on the case, immediately after the election and if elected, the court will not have jurisdiction again on the case. My Lord do not allow my learned friend's plea by adjourning till July."

It was at this stage that the judge cautioned the counsel not to take the matter too far and advised both parties to agree on an acceptable date since both have responsibilities to their clients.

For several minutes, both counsels could not agree on a date.

Intermittently, counsel to Fayose was seen consulting with him while in the dock on a possible date.
After a while, both counsels agreed on May 6 as the next adjourned date for the continuation of the case. Earlier, the EFCC called two witnesses to testify in the case.

The first witness, Mr Emmanuel Alejo, a Relationship Officer with the Skye Bank Plc, had explained to the court while being led in evidence by Jacobs, all he knew about the case.

He tendered five documents- certificate of identification, two statements of account, one for Avian Specialties and the second for Biological Concepts Nig Ltd, opening of account form for each company.

While being cross examined by Raji, the witness submitted that there was no where in all the documents where the accused was linked with the transactions.

Before the documents were admitted as exhibits, Raji argued against the admissibility of the documents saying that some of the  documents were not in proof of evidence earlier "front loaded to the court."