Nigeria: Judge Didn’t Order Retrial of Fani-Kayode in Abuja Court – Lawyer

The Federal High Court did not order the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to file fresh charges against former aviation minister, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode and others. Mrs Patience Omoike-Mark, counsel to the former minister while making the clarification said Justice Daniel Osiagor instead, declared that the suit no longer had life before the court following a Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal’s judgment quashing the case. There had been media reports that a FHC in Lagos had ordered that exhibits and documents in a suit marked: FHC/L/251C/16 filed by the EFCC against former Minister of State for Finance, Nenandi Usman; Fani-Kayode and others be released back to the commission to enable it file fresh charges against the defendants in the Abuja division of the court. But reacting, Omoike-Mark refuted the media reports, saying the court only directed that documents and exhibits filed in the course of the trial be returned to parties in the case. She said the team had applied for the certified true copy of the Appeal Court judgement and that this would be made available to the public as soon as it is gotten.