Ex-Gov Ahmed’s trial: Mild drama in court over served documents by EFCC counsel
* Case adjourned to February 16 for continuation of hearing
Stephen Olufemi Oni, Ilorin
There was a mild drama at the Kwara State High Court, Ilorin, on Thursday during the continuation of hearing in the N5.78bn case instituted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) against former Kwara State Governor Abdulfath Ahmed and his erstwhile commissioner for Finance, Alhaji Demola Banu.
Though both Ahmed and Banu were physically present in court, the matter was stalled midway into hearing following disagreement between the defence counsel and the EFCC team on the documents tendered before the court as exhibits.
For several minutes, Counsel to the EFCC, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), and lead Counsel to the defendants, Kamaldeen Ajibade, (SAN), argued about improper arrangement of documents served on the latter and same which was tendered before the court.
Jacobs had tendered the documents to be admitted as exhibits before the court but Counsel to the defendants insisted that the “bundle of documents” was different from what was served on them and were also not properly arranged nor numbered to guide the court in the proceedings.
Jacobs on the other hand argued that the documents served the defence Counsel and which were also available before the court were the same with the one in his possession.
He argued that it was not the duty of his team to number the documents as tendered for the defence Counsel.
After listening to both parties and carefully going through the said documents, the Presiding Judge, Justice Mahmud Gafar, agreed with the submission of the Defence Counsel that the documents needed to be properly arranged.
He then adjourned the case till February 16 for continuation of hearing to allow the EFCC legal team time to properly arrange the documents.
Fielding questions from journalists after the adjournment, Ajibade said the request for the document to be arranged properly was in order because it has to do with “proof of evidence”.
“Criminal matter was not supposed to be ambushed. What he has served on us was not properly highlighted”, he said.
Also speaking, Jacobs who insisted that it was not the duty of his team to arrange the documents, however, said they conceded to the party’s request in the spirit of fairness.
“They said the documents were not pagenated and not arranged in chronological order in which we tendered them. It is not our duty to number the documents for them but in the spirit of fairnes to the party, we conceded to them”, he said
