Justice Abubakar Kutigi of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, Asokoro, has warned A.I. Lemu, lawyer of Abdulrasheed Maina, against actions that could be seen as making a mockery of his court.
The warning followed Mr. Maina’s absence at the commencement of a trial-within-trial on Thursday, which is meant to determine the admissibility of his extrajudicial statements to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Lawyer Lemu told the court that he was new to the case and had not yet reviewed the charges or history of his client’s trial.
He requested a two-week adjournment to familiarize himself with the matter.
“I am coming into this matter new. I don’t even have the charges. I don’t have the history of this case. I was briefed on the phone to take over the case,” he said.
He also promised to see the trial through, adding, “Hopefully, I will be the last lawyer to appear in this case.”
Justice Kutigi, noting the high turnover of Maina’s lawyers, threatened to revoke Maina’s bail if he failed to appear at the trial-within-trial.
He said, “If your client cannot come to court, I will revoke his bail and let them go and get him. If you don’t know the history of the case, go and get the records and I am not going to wait for you to do that. I would not allow a senior advocate to come and make a mockery of this court. The last time he appeared in court was more than three years ago. I will give you two weeks to study the matter, and for the trial-within-trial to commence. If he is not in court during the trial-within-trial, I will revoke his bail.”
Justice Kutigi recalled that Maina was released from prison on February 25, 2025, after serving a two-year sentence for money laundering, yet he has not made himself available for his ongoing trial.
During Thursday’s proceedings, the prosecution filed two applications, one to strike out the defence’s objection to the voluntariness of the defendants’ statements and another for Maina to cover costs incurred in transporting equipment to replay the defendants’ extrajudicial statements.
The defence, on the other hand, filed an application challenging the court’s jurisdiction, arguing that Maina had already been convicted and served his sentence.
The prosecution promised to respond to the application on the next adjourned date.
The court adjourned the matter until March 9 for the trial-within-trial and a hearing on the court’s jurisdiction.
Maina and Ann Olachi are facing a nine-count charge of receiving stolen funds totaling N738,612,019.99.
They were first arraigned in 2019.
