Justice Rilwan Aikawa who ruled on the case on Tuesday, October 27, struck out the case on the ground of the charges against the defendants lacking “diligent prosecution” by the police.

While the federal high court judge pointed out that the prosecuting counsel, J. I Ebhoremen was absent from court for the umpteenth time with no reasonable explanation, the defence counsel, Israel Usman noted that it was the ninth time Mr Ebhoremen did not show up in court since the case started in 2019.

Usman urged the Judge to strike out the case as Section 356(5) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015 provided a maximum of five adjournments at the instance of the prosecution in a criminal trial.

He said “This is ninth adjournment at the instance of the prosecution in contravention of the statutory Act that regulates criminal justice system. We urge the court to dismiss the case and discharge the defendants.”

Ruling on the case, Aikawa said “I agree entirely with defendants’ counsel that the prosecution’s attitude to this case is not satisfactory. In my view, this should not be. If the prosecution has a cogent reason not to be in court, he should have communicated in writing to the court and copy the defence counsel. For whatever reason, the prosecution is no more capable or not willing to prosecute this case. Consequently, this case is struck out due to a lack of diligent prosecution.”

Recall that the EFCC had obtained a court order for the interim forfeiture of the houses – Plots No. 10 and No. 11 Abdulkadir Road, GRA, Ilorin, Kwara State in December 2019. The anti-graft agency alleged that the properties were acquired with proceeds of unlawful activities allegedly perpetrated by Saraki while he was Kwara State Governor between 2003 and 2011

Ruling on the case, Justice Rilwan Aikawa who stated that the evidence presented before the court was to the effect that the property was substantially financed with money paid to Saraki as a former governor, in line with the Kwara State Governor and Deputy Governor Payment of Pension Law, said EFCC’s claim of properties being acquired with illegal funds was based on mere suspicion.

Justice Rilwan Aikawa of the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos gave the order, following an ex-parte application filed by the Commission.

Counsel to the EFCC, Usman Buhari, in the application, stated that the money had been illegally diverted from the NDDC, through a contract awarded by the Federal Government of Nigeria

Justice Aikawa, in a short ruling, granted all the reliefs sought by the EFCC and ordered the forfeiture of the money to the Federal Government of Nigeria.

The judge further directed the Commission to publish the order in any national newspaper within 14 days, notifying the respondents or anyone interested in the money to appear before the court and show cause why it should not be finally forfeited to Federal Government of Nigeria

He adjourned the matter till July 9, 2020.