Former House Speaker, House of Representativess, Dimeji Bankole and his Deputy, Bayero Nafada, facing corruption charges before two separate high courts in Abuja were, last week, ditched, by a consortium of Senior Advocates of Nigeria.
The chambers of Chief Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN), Prof. Awa Kalu (SAN) and Prof. Charles Ilegbune (SAN) were representing Bankole and Nafada until their relationship soured. Although the affected senior counsel did not disclose why they were withdrawing their services yesterday, a junior lawyer in the chambers of one of them, however, told National Mirror that the exlawmakers refused to pay their legal fees.
The source, who did not want his name mentioned, said: You know why? It is difficult to think that they have gone broke so soon? This is because they are still fresh from the National Assembly. But it is not impossible. Personally, I do not believe those who were saying that the ex-lawmakers refused to pay the professional fees of their counsel so that they could delay their trial and gain more time.
I hold this view because whether they like it or not, the trial would go on. They cannot delay it till eternity especially at a time when the CJN had given a directive to judges that no corruption case must exceed six months. As far as Im concerned, the lawyers they hired were some of the best in the legal profession. The trial has a lot of implications for their political ambitions.
They cannot afford to gamble with it. I dont think they are broke. I think they wanted to mislead Nigerians that they are broke so that they could get peoples sympathy. But I think they got it wrong because Nigerians are wiser. Already, the senior members of the inner bar defending the ex-lawmakers had already filed their notice at the registry of the Abuja high court to communicate their decision to the trial judge that they would no longer represent them even as the high court sitting in Maitama resumed hearing this morning on the corruption charge preferred against them.
It would be recalled that Bankole and Nafada are standing trial at both the Federal High Court, Abuja Division and in the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory. They were arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for alleged inflation of contracts and obtaining over N37.91bn loans during their tenure. The loans were allegedly used to pay allowances to members of the sixth House of Representatives. Part of the loans was a N12bn facility obtained by the House leadership three days to the end of its tenure in May.
The allowances were allegedly paid outside the approved Remuneration Package for Political, Public and Judicial Office Holders by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) and the extant Revised Financial Regulations of the Federal Government of Nigeria, 2009. Although the trial judge at the FCT High Court, Justice Suleiman Belgore, has devoted this week for the trial of the ex-Speaker and his deputy, their counsel had notified the court of their withdrawal from the two cases.
Courtesty: National Mirror