Female Ex-Minister Begs... Don't Try Me With Fani-Kayode

Ex-Minister of State for Finance, Mrs Nenadi Usman, has asked Justice Muslim Hassan of the Federal High Court in Lagos to allow her to be tried separately from

Femi Fani-Kayode.

The EFCC charged Usman and Fani-Kayode with an alleged fraud of N4.9bn.

At the resumed proceedings in the case on Tuesday, Usman’s lawyer, Mr. Jelili Owonikoko (SAN), pointed Justice Hassan’s attention to two pending applications filed by his client.

One of the applications was praying the court to allow Usman to be tried separately from Fani-Kayode and for her trial to be transferred from Lagos to Abuja.

Owonikoko said his client is apprehensive that she might not get justice if they are jointly tried.

“We are concerned about the joint trial of the first defendant (Usman) with the second defendant (Fani-Kayode),” he said.

He said it was inconvenient for his client, who lives in Abuja, to be travelling to Lagos to stand trial.

He said it became even more difficult for the former minister because all her bank accounts had been frozen, adding that for each court appearance, she would fly to Lagos a day before, lodge in a hotel and return to Abuja the day after the court trial.

The Senior Advocate of Nigeria told the court that Usman, in the second application, prayed for the release of her passport to enable her to travel abroad for medical treatment.

Fani-Kayode’s lawyer, Mr. Norrison Quakers (SAN), also filed an application, urging Justice Hassan to excuse himself from the case because the judge was once a prosecutor with the EFCC.

Justice Hassan adjourned till Wednesday (today) to hear the applications.