27th June, 2024
Former Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, who is being charged with an N80.2bn fraud, has asked that he be tried in Kogi rather than Abuja.
Bello was supposed to appear at the Federal High Court, Abuja, on Thursday, but his legal team said a letter had been written to the court with the argument that only the Kogi High Court in Lokoja had the territorial jurisdiction to hear the case.
A lawyer in Bello’s team, Adeola Adedipe who addressed the court on Thursday, said the ex-governor was “requesting in substance, that this matter be administratively transferred to the Federal High Court, Lokoja Judicial Division, which we believe has territorial jurisdiction to handle this matter”.
He said: “That letter was received at the Chief Judge’s Chambers and the office of the honourable CJ. We wrote the prosecution team through Mr Iseoluwa Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, on June 13, notifying him that administrative steps had been activated, whereof he was directed to provide a response to the request for transfer of the matter”.
But he said the team did not know if a decision had been taken by the Chief Judge on the matter.
“We are also not in receipt of any decision that has been made on this request by the CJ,” he said.
He said the team had filed an affidavit to this effect and attached two documents in support.
But the prosecution counsel, Kemi Pinhero, opposed the defendant’s application. He said the defence should rather explain why Bello was was not in court, despite an undertaking made made on June 13, for him be present.
He called on the trial judge, Justice Emeka Nwite to query Bello’s team on why they should be sanctioned for contempt.