A
former Minister of State for Finance, Senator Nenadi Usman, has asked Justice
Muslim Hassan of the Federal High Court in Lagos to permit her to travel abroad
to receive treatment for breast cancer.
She
said doctors at the National Hospital recommended that she receives further
treatment abroad after suffering a relapse after a surgery.
Her
application, however, could not be heard because the judge ruled he would first
consider a pending application challenging the court’s jurisdiction.
The
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arraigned Usman with former
Minister of Aviation Chief Femi Fani-Kayode.
They
were charged with former National Chairman of the Association of Local Government
of Nigeria (ALGON) and ex-Chairman of Kagarko Local Government of Kaduna State,
Mr. Yusuf Danjuma and a company said to belong to him, Jointrust Dimentions
Nigeria Limited.
EFCC
arraigned them on a 17-count charge of laundering about N4.6billion. They
pleaded not guilty.
Fani-Kayode,
in his pending application, asked the judge to withdraw from the case because
he was “worried and terrified” he would not get a fair hearing from Justice
Hassan.
He
asked the judge to decline jurisdiction and transfer the case to the court’s
Abuja division, adding that Justice Hassan, who worked as a prosecutor at the
Federal Ministry of Justice and later seconded to the EFCC, signed the charge
for which he was previously tried and acquitted by Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumobia
for money laundering
Usman,
in her applications, is praying the court to allow her to be tried separately
from Fani-Kayode and for her trial to be transferred from Lagos to Abuja for
convenience.
Yesterday,
Usman’s lawyer Mr. Abiodun Owonikowo (SAN) prayed the court to consider the
former minister’s application to travel abroad for medical reasons.
According
to him, since it was a matter of life and death, the judge could hear it before
other applications.
Besides,
he said the judge, having granted the former minister of state bail, was
allowed by law to vary the bail terms, including permitting her to travel
abroad.
“If
she collapses here now, will this case go on? She has undergone surgery and has
had a relapse. Doctors at the National Hospital have recommended that she needs
to get urgent medical treatment abroad.
“This
is a matter as serious as breast cancer. We are all humans and can fall sick,”
he said.
But,
EFCC’s lawyer Rotimi Oyedepo, said Usman’s application for leave to travel
cannot be heard when there were pending applications challenging the court’s
jurisdiction.
He
said the issue of jurisdiction ought to be determined first before all other
applications could be heard.
“If
they want this application (for leave to travel) to be heard, then they should
withdraw the application challenging the court’s jurisdiction,” he said.
Justice
Hassan held that since the defendants have applications on jurisdiction with
regards to where they should be tried, as well as on fair hearing, those
applications ought to be determined first.
“The
law is clear. The court is obliged to determine the issue of jurisdiction
first. I am inclined to take the applications challenging the competence of
this court to entertain the case first,” he said.
The
judge directed the defence to move the pending applications.
But,
Fani-Kayode’s lawyer Mr. Norrison Quakers (SAN) said EFCC served him with the
prosecution’s counter-affidavit three days ago.
He
said he needed time to reply on points of law.
Justice
Hassan adjourned till March 1 for hearing in all pending applications.
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