18th May, 2011
Justice Abubakar Umar of the FCT High Court has fixed Tuesday, May 24 for the commencement of the trial of former FCT Minister Nasir el-Rufai and two others.
Also standing trial is a former Director-General of the Abuja Geographical Information System (AGIS), Altine Jibrin, and former General Manager Ismail Iro.
They were arraigned on 7 April by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, over alleged abuse of office and illegal re-allocation of plots of land in the FCT belonging to the PHCN to their friends and family members.
The accused, who pleaded not guilty to the eight-count charge, were thereafter, granted bail on liberal terms as pleaded by counsel to Rufai, Chief Akin Olujinmi (SAN).
The trial, which was supposed to commence on Tuesday before Justice Umar, was adjourned after the court’s clerk, Mr Akinwale Akinlolu, announced that the judge would not be sitting on matters involving his regular cases.
This, the registrar said, was because the Judge was sitting on a special Appeal Session to entertain cases on appeal from the Upper Area, and Magistrates’ courts.
The Chief Judge of the FCT High Court, Justice Lawal Gummi, had assigned Justices Umar and Chioma Oji to sit on a special panel as appeal judges.
The Appeal Session will end its sitting on Thursday, May 19.