24th June, 2011
Justice Abubakar Umar of the FCT High Court in Maitama, has fixed July 7 for hearing two applications, seeking to quash the criminal charges levelled against former FCT Minister, Nasir El-rufai and two others.
El-Rufai, Altine Jibrin, a former Director-General of the Abuja Geographic Information Systems (AGIS) and Ismail Iro, a former General Manager of the agency were arraigned on April 7 by the EFCC on an eight-count charge of conspiracy and conferring corrupt advantages on themselves.
Umar fixed the date, following another application filed late by Iro, urging the court to quash the charges against them for a lack of evidence.
At the resumed hearing on Thursday, Umar who had earlier fixed June 23 for hearing of an application by El-Rufai to quash the matter was informed by the counsel to Iro, Chief Akin Olujimi, that his client had also filed another application to dismiss the charges against him.
When the judge asked if the prosecution counsel, Chief Adebayo Adelodun (SAN), had received a copy of the application, he said no.
Adelodun told the judge that he was only served the application in court this morning.
He, therefore, applied for a short adjournment to enable him reply to the application and file his objections.
Both El-Rufai and Iro want the court to strike out the suit for lack of jurisdiction.
They are both challenging the competence of the charges against them as filed by the EFCC.
The judge directed all parties to appear before him to present the two applications, saying there was no need to deliver two rulings on a single suit.