Former Minister of Aviation, Mr. Femi
Fani-Kayode, on Thursday insisted before a Federal High Court, Lagos, that none
of Festus Keyamo’s junior lawyers could prosecute him for the money laundering
charges preferred against him.
This development stalled the day’s
proceedings as Fani-Kayode’s counsel maintained that lawyers representing
Keyamo’s law firm in court lacked the authority to prosecute the case on behalf
of their superior.
The defence team, led by Mr. Ifedayo
Adedipe (SAN), argued that the fiat of the Attorney-General of the Federation
was given to Keyamo to prosecute the case in his personal capacity.
He said given the provision of
section 24 of the Legal Practitioners Act, it was Keyamo, to whom the fiat was
given, who has the authority to prosecute the case and not his law firm.
Keyamo has been prosecuting
Fani-Kayode on behalf of the EFCC since the matter was first filed in 2008. But
the matter has been started afresh for about three times due to incessant
change of judges handling the case.
Controversy over Keyamo’s
prosecutorial status had in July led to a situation whereby the trial judge,
Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia, had to adjourn sine die (indefinitely) following
Keyamo’s request to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Ibrahim
Auta, to re-assign the matter to another judge.
The Thursday’s proceeding was meant
for the defence to cross-examine the prosecution’s first witness.
Though the prosecution said the
matter ought to have been raised before the first witness was called, Justice
Ofili-Ajumogobia adjourned till November 27 for parties to address her on the
pending issue of the prosecution’s appearance in court.
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