Abdulrasheed Maina: dumped by his lawyer, Mr. Ademola Adedipe

The Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday granted permission for Mr Ademola Adedipe, a defence lawyer in the trial of former Chairman of the Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT) Abulrasheed Maina, to withdraw from the case.

Adedipe had, until recently, represented Maina’s company -Common Input Limited – charged as the second defendant in the N2bn money laundering case of the former PRTT Chairman.

However, Adedipe hinged his decision to quit the case on the grounds that his brief had not been perfected by the client.

But Justice Okon Abang had on November 25, 2020, turned down the application by the lawyer to quit the case.

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The judge, in declining the application for withdrawal at the previous proceedings, said the application had yet to arrive in the court file from the registry.

However, The judge acknowledged the application on Thursday and issued an order discharging the lawyer from the case.

Meanwhile, the trial continued on Thursday in the absence of the defendants and their lawyers, with the court entertaining evidence from a witness of the prosecution.

The decision by the court to allow the continuation of the trial was in line with its earlier ruling, allowing the trial to be conducted in the absence of Maina, who the court found to have jumped bail.