N5 Billion Scam – Audu Fails to Appear in Court Again

Isiaka Wakili, Lokoja

20 May 2011

For the second time in two months, the former governor of Kogi State and gubernatorial candidate of the All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) in the state, Prince Abubakar Audu, failed to appear in court for hearing on the 80-count charge against him by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC).

Operatives of the anti-graft agency had in November 2006, arrested Audu in Lokoja for allegedly stealing over N5 billion from the state’s treasury when he was governor.

At the sitting yesterday, Audu’s lawyer, Abdullahi Haruna told the state High Court, Lokoja, that his client was not aware that the case had been reassigned to another judge following the redeployment of Justice Henry Adebiyi, who was handling it before.

But the counsel to the EFCC, Adebisi Adeniyi, said the accused was deliberately thwarting the case, arguing that, ‘The last time the case came up for hearing, Audu was said to have been critically ill and bedridden in an Abuja hospital, whereas he was busy campaigning for election in the state”.

The judge, Justice Hussein Seidu Tanko, adjourned the case to June 10, 2011.

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