• Counsel
walk out on judge
A Federal
High Court, Lagos, yesterday convicted two Brazilians, Lima Pereira Diego
and
Santos Marcia Cristina, for bringing into Nigeria 23.895 kilogrammes of
cocaine.
Justice
Mojisola Olatoregun convicted the two Brazilians after they had pleaded guilty
to the charges levelled against them by the National Drugs Law Enforcement
Agency (NDLEA).
The
convicts, who were earlier arraigned before the court on April 26 on a
three-count charge bordering on conspiracy and unlawful importation of the said
narcotic, declined to take their plea on the ground that they do not have
confidence in the interpreter, one Mr. O. Adeniran, who was provided for them
by their country’s diplomatic service.
Upon the
objection raised against the interpreter and their plea-guilty to the charge,
the court adjourned till yesterday for re-arraignment and plea-taken.At the hearing
yesterday, the judge asked the convicts if they still want to plea guilty to
the charge, they insisted that they are guilty of the charge.
Consequently,
Justice Olatoregun pronounced them guilty as charged and adjourned till July 5,
2017 to pronounce sentence on the convicts.She also ordered them remanded in
Kirikiri Prison pending the day.
In another
development, former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Chief
Olajumoke Akinjide and a chieftain of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP),
Chief Olanrewaju Otiti, were yesterday ordered to be remanded in prison till
September 12, 2017.
Akinjide and
her accomplice were arraigned alongside former Senator Ayo Adeseun, who was not
available in court, yesterday before a Federal High Court, Ibadan, over alleged
illegal possession and disbursement of N650 million without lawful authority
and handling the large sum of money without recourse to a financial institution
as proscribed by the law.
Also, the
presiding judge, Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, ordered the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission (EFCC) to produce him (third accused) at the next adjourned
date.
Akinjide and
Otiti pleaded not guilty to the 12-count charge preferred against them, but
Justice Abdulmalik ordered them to be remanded in the EFCC custody when the
substantive case filed against them would be heard.
The EFCC
counsel, Mr. Rotimi Oyedepo, had earlier told the court that Akinjide had
agreed with the commission to enter plea-bargaining to refund the alleged money
and so applied that she be remanded in the EFCC custody instead of Agodi
Prison.
Meanwhile,
before the plea of the defendants was taken, Akinjide’s lead counsel, Chief
Bolaji Ayorinde (SAN) and counsel to Senator Ayoade Adeseun (who is at large),
Mr. Michael Lana, walked out on the judge when she refused to hear a
pre-arraignment application Ayorinde had wanted to move before the charge could
be read to the defendants.
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