The arraignment of the President of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Mr Paul Usoro, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), earlier scheduled for Monday has been shifted by eight days.
The Federal High Court in Lagos, on Monday, shifted the arraignment till Tuesday, December 18, 2018.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, is prosecuting the NBA boss for an alleged N1.4billion fraud.
The case, brought before Justice Muslim Hassan, could not hold because Usoro’s defencce team told the court that their client had not been served with the charge sheet.
A former NBA President, Chief Wole Olanipekun, also a SAN), is leading 12 other Senior Advocates of Nigeria, to defend Usoro.
Olanipekun stated that his client came to court on his own volition despite not being served with the charge sheet. He added that even so, his client was willing to accept the service of the charge sheet in the courtroom.
But EFCC lawyer, Mr Rotimi Oyedepo, said he was unable to serve Usoro with the charge sheet because it was still the commission’s investigative department.
Justice Hassan directed the EFCC to ensure the service of the charge sheet on Usoro and shifted the arraignment till Tuesday, December 18,
In the charge sheet, the EFCC alleged that Usoro connived with the incumbent Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Udom Emmanuel, and converted and laundered N1.4billion of the state’s funds.
But the governor was not listed as a defendant in the case because of the immunity against criminal that the constitution confers on him as a sitting governor.
Other officials of the state mentioned in the charge sheet are: Nsikan Nkan, Commissioner for Finance; Mfon Udomah, Accountant General; Uwemedimo Nwoko, Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice; and Margaret Ukpe, They were all said to be at large.
In the charge, the EFCC claimed that Usoro and the aforementioned officials allegedly conspired among themselves and converted the N1.4billion belonging to the Akwa Ibom State Government “sometime in 2015”.
