Justice Mudashiru Oniyangi of an Abuja High Court, Wednesday, fixed July 10 to rule on an application that was filed before him by the former Chairman and Secretary of the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee on fuel subsidy probe, Farouk Lawal and Mr Boniface Emenalo, asking him to hands-off their trial.
The embattled lawmakers who are facing corruption charge entered against them by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, accused the judge of misappropriating the law when he held that the anti-graft agency successfully established a prima-facie criminal case to warrant their prosecution.
Emenalo and Farouk
Arguing through their lawyer, Mr Ricky Tarfa, SAN, the duo, insisted that the judge occasioned great injustice against them when he declined to quash the 7-count charge before the court for want of incriminating evidence, even as they maintained that the judge, on January 31, erroneously granted leave to the ICPC to file an “incompetent charge”.
It will be recalled that Justice Oniyangi had on May 10, okayed them for trial shortly after he dismissed an application that sought to quash the charge against them.
Meantime, the ICPC, has raised the alarm over what it termed subterranean plot by the accused lawmakers to thwart their prosecution.
Opposing the application for stay Wednesday, counsel to the commission, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo, SAN, described the application as “frivolous, vexatious and a design to stall the trial of the accused persons.”
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