4th December, 2017
A Federal High Court in Lagos, Southwest Nigeria on Monday issued a bench warrant for the arrest of former Governor of Enugu State, Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani.
The court had fixed Monday for the re-arraignment of Nnamani, but he did not appear in court. The former governor is facing N4.5 billion fraud allegation during his tenure as governor of Enugu State.
Justice Chuka Obiozor made the order of arrest following the failure of the former governor’s lawyer, to give any reasonable evidence as to why his client was absent in court.
According to Nnamanis lawyer, his client was not in court because he had undergone a heart surgery in the United States, which informed his absence.
The judge, who was not satisfied ordered his arrest.
Thr court had last Thursday adjourned till 4th of December, 2017 when Nnamani would be re-arraigned before the court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for alleged money laundering of N4.5 billion during his tenure as the governor of the state
When the case was mentioned on Thursday, a lawyer M. Bamidele from the law firm of Ricky Tarfa who represented the defendant told the court that his chamber was served with hearing notice six days ago, but that the time was too short for Nnamani to be in court as the defendant was not in the country and that they have not been able to get in touch with him.
The prosecutor, Kelvin Uzozie was also not in court, but wrote a letter to the court asking for adjournment; consequently the court adjourned till 4th of December, 2017, when the former governor would be arraigned.
However, the defense counsel Bamidele, objected to the date, on the ground that it might be difficult to get in touch with the defendant before that day but the Presiding Judge, Prof. Chuka Obizor frowned at his objection, as he observed that this might be a ploy to delay the trial, as he claimed that the case has just been assigned to him, therefore the counsel should take steps to make sure that his client come back to face trial.