Report has it that fresh attempt by the Prosecution in the trial of former President Goodluck Jonathan’s cousin, Azibaola Robert, his wife, Stella and company, Oneplus, for the second time has stalled the cross-examination of witnesses by seeking sudden adjournment of the case.
The adjournment however, infuriated the Judge, Nnami Dimgba of the Federal High Court, Abuja.
The Defendants were ready to take on David Nkpe, an operative of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) who appeared as the 10th prosecution witness yesterday.
Counsel for the prosecution, Sylvanus Tahir, again pleaded with the judge, to grant him permission to attend to a matter in another court.
The judge was, however, surprised at Tahir’s plea and wondered why the prosecution did not come prepared for the case after two adjournments within one week.
Trouble had started for the prosecution when it tried to introduce some documents, which were not listed in the proof of evidence and served on the defendants as required by the court to which the defendants objected leading to a heated argument in court.
The development forced the judge to stand down the matter for one hour to enable the prosecution to furnish the defendants with the ‘fresh evidence’.
But upon resumption, the EFCC counsel asked the judge for permission to attend to another matter in a different court, a request that infuriated the judge.
Nkpe claimed to have investigated Robert and Oneplus and discovered that the $40 million paid to them by the Office of the National Security Adviser, (ONSA) was for a ‘safe house’ but could not explain to the judge what he meant by a safe house.
Based on the inability of the witness to explain what a safe house meant, the defendants objected to the attempt for an explanation, which the judge upheld.
“The mandate instruction shows that the payment was for a Safe House Project. But I did not confirm the property to be safe house,” Nkpe said.
