By Lukman Olabiyi
Justice Mohammed Idris of a Federal High Court in Lagos, yesterday, adjourned further hearing in the trial of former governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu and two others, over alleged fraud, till today.
The adjournment was due to failure of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to produce its third witness for the trial.
The prosecutor, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN) sought for adjournment of the matter following conclusion of cross-examination of the second prosecution witness, Christiana Ohiri, by the defence.
He told the court that all his efforts to ensure another witness was brought to court, yesterday, failed.
“My lord, I am asking for an adjournment of this matter till tomorrow. I have no other witness to call at the moment.
“Besides, I thought the defence was going to spend more time cross-examining the second prosecution witness. The defence had even threatened me at a point in the course of proceedings that the witness would spend weeks inside the witness box.
“So, I am pleading with my lord for an adjournment. This is the first time we would be seeking for an adjournment in this matter,” Jacobs said.
However, the application was opposed by Kalu’s lawyer, Goddy Uche (SAN) who expressed his displeasure at the inability of the prosecution to produce its third witness in the matter.
“My lord, with due respect to my brother, I am opposed to the request for adjournment. My client flew in from abroad because of this matter. In the alternative, I want to suggest the matter be stood down for about one hour to allow the prosecution produce its witnesses,” he said.
Other defence lawyers, Solo Akuma (SAN) and K. C. Nwofo (SAN) also expressed their objections to the request for adjournment.
After listening to the arguments of parties in the matter, Justice Idris adjourned further hearing in the matter till today.
Earlier, the second prosecution witness, Christiana Ohiri, while being re-examined by EFCC’s lawyer, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), emphasised that she did not personally meet all the people who carried out transactions with the 36 bank drafts issued by her bank.
She had, while corroborating the evidence of the first prosecution witness, Onovah Ogonevoh, told the court that no payment was made to the former Abia State Governor, Kalu, from Government House account between 2002 and 2005.