N5.06 BILLION SCAM: Prince Abubakar Audu Stalls Trial

Four years after former Governor of Kogi State, Prince Abubakar Audu was dragged before a Kogi State High Court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on an 80-count charge involving N5.06 billion he allegedly stole from the treasury of the state, the case has continued to suffer setback.

Following threats on the lives of the prosecuton counsel and prosecution witnesses in Lokoja where the former governor is standing trial, the anti-graft commission moved to have the trial shifted Kogi State  and take it before another court of competent jurisdiction.

This has resulted in the entering of nolle prosequi, that is, intention to discontinue with the matter, by the Kogi State Attorney General who had earlier granted a fiat to the Attorney General of the Federation which enabled the AGF to prosecute Prince Audu on both the EFCC Act and the penal code.

The former governor has opposed his trial  another judicial division and also opposed the application by the Kogi State Attorney General to stop his trial in Kogi State.

Audu sought for, and received an ex-parte order from the Kogi State High court stopping the transfer of the matter to Court of Appeal Abuja Division, for the resolution of the issue, also seeking clarification on whether the Kogi AG can interfere and withdraw a case in which he had already granted fiat to the AGF to handle.

At the Court of Appeal, the former governor rejected an order of the court for parties to file written addresses for speedy resolution of the matter and went to the Supreme Court to challenge that order.

The apex court in resolution of the matter ordered Prince Audu to go back to the Court of Appeal as the apex court cannot dictate to the Court of Appeal on how to conduct its affairs.

The matter resumed this morning at the appellate court where the former governor complied with the earlier directives of the court in filing and adopting his brief of argument in support of his opposition to stop his trial in Lokoja where his influence is quite significant.

His lawyer, Mr. Abdullahi Haruna submitted that the Kogi State Attorney General cannot interfere in his client’s trial before the Kogi State High Court as the case is not being prosecuted by him neither did he inherit the case from the Attorney General of the Federation to whom he (the Kogi AG) had earlier granted a fiat to handle the case.

In justifying the need to transfer Audu’s trial to a neutral ground, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs stated that the charges against the former governor and the amount involved are such that a neutral ground is required in the face of threats which the prosecution witnesses and counsel had received from the supporters of the former governor.

Ruling on whether the Kogi State Attorney-General can interfere and enter a nolle prosequi in Audu’s trial before Kogi State High Court was reserved by the 3-man panel of the court led by Justice Mohammed Lawan Garba to a date to be announced later.
By Nnamdi Felix / Abuja