{"id":54181,"date":"2024-10-30T21:59:17","date_gmt":"2024-10-30T21:59:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/?p=54181"},"modified":"2024-10-31T07:39:15","modified_gmt":"2024-10-31T07:39:15","slug":"efcc-seeks-yahaya-bellos-trial-in-absentia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/2024\/10\/30\/efcc-seeks-yahaya-bellos-trial-in-absentia\/","title":{"rendered":"EFCC Seeks Yahaya Bello\u2019s Trial in Absentia"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has petitioned Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Maitama, Abuja, to proceed with the trial of former Kogi State governor, Yahaya Bello, in absentia, arguing that his repeated failure to appear for arraignment should not delay the legal process.<\/p>\n

Lead counsel for the EFCC, Kemi Pinheiro, SAN, also requested the court to enter a plea of \u201cnot guilty\u201d on Bello\u2019s behalf. The former governor faces a 19-count charge involving N80.2 billion in alleged money laundering. Despite being summoned for arraignment on six occasions, Bello has not appeared in court.<\/p>\n

Pinheiro emphasized that Bello\u2019s refusal to appear is deliberate and that the court should avoid being seen as powerless. \u201cA court cannot afford to demonstrate helplessness; this would signal anarchy, undermining the rule of law,\u201d he argued.<\/p>\n

The EFCC\u2019s counsel further reminded the court that a defendant\u2019s refusal to engage with court proceedings should not hinder justice. He stressed that \u201cjustice is a three-way mechanism: to the defendant, to the prosecution, and to society.\u201d He urged the court to proceed with the trial under Section 276 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), noting that physical presence is not a strict requirement for arraignment and that a plea can be entered in the defendant\u2019s absence.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur primary application is to formally enter a not-guilty plea on the defendant\u2019s behalf, even in his absence,\u201d Pinheiro stated, arguing that this would allow the prosecution to substantiate the allegations.<\/p>\n

Defense counsel Michael Adoyi opposed the motion, citing a prior court order mandating the defendant\u2019s presence for any application to proceed. \u201cThe application contradicts a standing order issued by this honorable court, which specifies that no application can be considered without the defendant\u2019s arraignment,\u201d Adoyi asserted.<\/p>\n

In response, Pinheiro urged the court to dismiss the defense\u2019s objection, assuring that entering a plea in Bello\u2019s absence would not infringe upon his rights or compromise trial fairness.<\/p>\n

Justice Nwite acknowledged the arguments from both sides but indicated that a ruling on the matter may be delayed until the following year due to court schedules. The case was subsequently adjourned to January 21, 2025, for a ruling and possible arraignment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has petitioned Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Maitama, Abuja, to proceed with the trial of former Kogi State governor, Yahaya Bello, in absentia, arguing that his repeated failure to appear for arraignment should not delay the legal process. Lead counsel for the EFCC, Kemi […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":53552,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54181"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54181\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54208,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54181\/revisions\/54208"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}