Former Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, is asking the court in Abuja to administratively transfer his case to the Federal High Court, Lokoja Judicial Division.
Bello, who is being charged with an N80.2bn fraud, 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 the transfer as it believes it has territorial jurisdiction to handle this matter”.
“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 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 not in court, despite an undertaking made on June 13, for him to be present
He called on the trial judge, Justice Emeka Nwite to query Bello’s team on why they should be sanctioned for contempt.
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