A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Adeola Adedipe, on Thursday, applied to the Federal High Court in Abuja to withdraw his appearance for the immediate past Governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Yahaya Bello.
Bello is facing a 19-count charge bordering on alleged complicity in money laundering, breach of trust, and misappropriation of public funds amounting to about N80.2 billion.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had urged the trial judge to dock Bello’s lawyers for failing to fulfill an undertaking to ensure his availability for trial.
Lead counsel for the EFCC, Mr. Kemi Pinhero, SAN, prayed the court to punish the two senior lawyers representing the former governor, accusing them of breaching the rules of professional conduct.
Pinhero argued, “Order 31(3) of Rules of Professional Conduct for legal practitioners stipulates that any lawyer that fails to comply with an undertaking made before a court, aside from being in contempt, is automatically guilty of misconduct.
My lord, our application is that since one of the lawyers is present in court, he should be moved to the dock and dealt with summarily, that is what the law says.”
“We urge the court to exercise disciplinary jurisdiction over the lawyers to preserve the integrity of the judiciary. If a Chief Justice of Nigeria can be docked before an inferior tribunal, who then is an SAN or a former governor in terms of status?
Even a former President of the United States of America was docked. These senior lawyers have been helping the defendant to treat this court with scorn.”
“For five consecutive sittings, the defendant refused to make himself available for his trial and his lawyers have continued to use all forms of chicanery to frustrate his arraignment.
If this sort of conduct is not punished, then we will be sliding to a situation that will be worse than the Animal Farm. The world is watching. Punishing these senior lawyers will send a very clear message.”
In response, Adedipe, SAN, stated that he was not Bello’s lead counsel and denied making any undertaking to secure his presence for the trial.
“My lord, the narration by the prosecution counsel is very untrue and it is accentuated by malice. I am not the lead counsel in this matter.
What the learned prosecution counsel has tried to do was to pitch my person against this court,” Adedipe insisted.
He argued that it was the EFCC that had treated the court with disrespect by failing to execute the warrant it obtained for the arrest of the defendant.
Adedipe explained that his team had earlier notified the court that it was unaware of the former governor’s whereabouts.
Given the turn of events, Adedipe said he had no option but to activate the provision of section 349(8) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015, and withdraw his appearance for the defendant.
However, the EFCC, through its counsel, maintained that it was too late for the defence lawyer to pull out of the case.
“My lord, he should be used to set an example that this is not a lottery game. His request to withdraw is only an afterthought and it should not be countenanced by this court. I urge your lordship to invite him to the dock immediately,” the prosecution counsel submitted.
Trial Justice Emeka Nwite has yet to rule on the matter.
