Justice Nnamdi Dimgba of the Federal High Court, Abuja, has adjourned to April 27, for further hearing, a case involving a cousin of former President Goodluck Jonathan, Robert Azibaola, his wife, Stella and their company, One Pius Holdings.
The prosecuting counsel, Francis A. Jirbo, in an oral application today, lamented the difficulty the prosecution was having in obtaining its next witness.
“My Lord, we shall be craving the indulgence of the court for an adjournment to present the next witness. We are having issues obtaining the next witness. Our witnesses have been listed in order of sequence. We will not want to break the chain of the sequence,” he said.
According to him, “the EFCC has six more witnesses to present, three of who are not within the Commission. We would try our best to have the next witness presented in court on the next adjourned date,” he added.
Responding, Azibaola’s counsel, Gordy Uche, said he would not be objecting to the application, but was curious that the EFCC could not find its witness.
He, however, added that “we might be constrained to ask the court to strike out the case in the event that the EFCC fails to bring the witness in the next adjourned date.”
Justice Dimgba after listening to the submissions of both counsel granted Jirbo’s application and adjourned the case.
Azibaola and his co-accused are facing a seven-count charge of money laundering, criminal breach of trust and corruption
They were alleged to have diverted $40 million meant for the supply of Tactical Communication kits for Special Forces, which was transferred from the account of the Office of the National Security Adviser, with the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to the domiciliary account of their company, One Pius Holdings.
