Court May Ruin Fayose's Governorship Dreams Over N416 million

A Federal High Court in Ado-Ekiti, capital of Ekiti State, on Thursday refused the request by the governorship candidate Ayodele Fayose to delay his trial to enable him concentrate on his electoral campaign.

Last Saturday, Fayose emerged the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for Governorship election scheduled for June 21.

The former Ekiti governor is standing trial for allegedly misappropriating state funds to the tune of N416m during his tenure between 2003 and 2006.

At the resumed hearing on the suit, Fayose's counsel, Raji Ahmed (SAN) asked the court to adjourn the matter till the first week in July. He said that the accused must be presumed innocent until proven guilty. Justice Adamu Hobon turned down the request after an objection by counsel to Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), who said that an accelerated hearing of the matter would help Fayose.

"It would be in the interest of the accused person, so that his people can make up their mind about him and his name cleared before the election," Jacobs said.

Justice Hobon adjourned the matter till May 6, 2014 for continuation of trial.

Justice Hobon admitted eight documents tendered as exhibits by the prosecution. The documents include:

• Certificate of Identification of Biological Concept Nigeria Limited
• Account Statement of Biological Concept Nigeria Limited
• Account Opening document of Biological Concept Limited
• Account Statement of Avians Specialties Nigeria Limited and Account Opening document of Avians Specialties – all with Skye Bank Plc
• Certificate of Account of PDP, Ekiti State, at Keystone Bank
• the Account Opening form of the PDP and its Statement of Account.

Five of the documents involving Skye Bank were presented before the court by a prosecution witness, Emmanuel Alejo, who was led in evidence by Jacobs.

Three other documents presented were by another prosecution witness, Taiwo Sanusi, head of Compliance, Monitoring and Reporting at Keystone Bank.

To recall, Fayose was re-arraigned on November 22, 2012 by the EFCC on a 27-count amended charge bordering on misappropriation of N416m state funds.
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READ MORE: http://news.naij.com/63129.html