NEWS
Fani-Kayode Faces Bench Warrant Threat Amid Trial Absence
Former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode may be declared wanted over his failure to appear for his ongoing trial.
The Lagos State Special Offences Court in Ikeja issued the threat on Wednesday.
Fani-Kayode is facing charges brought by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which include 12 counts related to the use of false documents, the presentation of fabricated evidence, and obtaining the execution of documents through false pretenses.
According to the allegations, the former minister forged medical reports and submitted them to Justice Daniel Osiagor of the Federal High Court in Lagos.
This case is separate from another ongoing EFCC prosecution against Fani-Kayode, which involves an alleged N4.9 billion fraud.
On Wednesday, during the court session, Justice Olubumni Abike-Fadipe expressed her dissatisfaction with Femi Fani-Kayode’s persistent absence from the trial.
Fani-Kayode had been arraigned on December 17, 2021, but has consistently failed to appear for subsequent adjournments.
In response to his continued absence, Justice Abike-Fadipe issued the threat to declare him wanted.
At the last adjourned date, the defendant’s counsel, Mr Wale Balogun, informed the court of the absence of the defendant, citing ill health, which he said was connected to Fani-Kayode’s encounter with the Department of State Services, which grilled him over some comments ahead of the general elections.
Balogun had pleaded with the court to grant him adjournment with a promise to make him available at Wednesday’s proceeding.
But at the resumed hearing of the matter on Wednesday the defendant’s counsel Mr Chinozo Eze, told the court that Fani-Kayode was not in court due to health issues.
He informed the court that a medical report and a letter seeking the leave of the court to vacate the two dates were already in the court’s file.
EFCC Counsel, Zinat Atiku, confirmed the development and said the prosecution’s hands were tied as to how to forge ahead.
However, the judge frowned on the repeated absence of the defendant, noting that the last time he was in court was November 4, 2022.
The judge cited a series of excuses that had been tendered by the defendant for Fani-Kayode in court to face his trial.
Furthermore, Justice Abike-Fadipe warned that if Femi Fani-Kayode fails to appear at the next adjourned date, she will consider issuing a bench warrant against him.
The judge also expressed her disapproval of the prosecutor’s lack of diligence in handling the case, emphasizing that the anti-graft agency should withdraw the matter if it is not prepared to prosecute it effectively.
The President of the African School of Governance, Kingsley Chiedu Moghalu has admonished state actors against resorting to brutal force in the bid to muscle out separatist agitators.
In the aftermath of Mazi Simon Ekpa, the Finland based Biafran nationalist agitator being caught in legal web and the Nigerian government moving swiftly to seek his repatriation, the former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has cautioned that ‘We either fix our problems, or our problems will eventually “fix” us. No alternative to a renegotiated union.’
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The political economist, while expressing his hope in Nigeria, made it clear that “hope is not a strategy”.
He bared his mind in a series of posts on his verified handle on micro-blogging site, X on Friday.
Moghalu wrote, “Despite sustained contemporary difficulties, I am hopeful about Nigeria. But hope is not a strategy. We need to improve state capacity for effective governance.
“We either fix our problems, or our problems will eventually “fix” us. No alternative to a renegotiated union.
“We must learn to be honest with ourselves and address the root causes of our problems. Why ignore them, when the problem is actually quite solvable? The problem with continuing with this approach is that when the danger crystallizes, those who thought they were benefiting from
Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar has criticized the federal government’s plan to secure an additional N1.7 trillion loan through Eurobonds to cover a shortfall in the 2024 budget, describing the borrowing as unsustainable and harmful to Nigeria’s economy.
In a statement shared on Thursday via his X (formerly Twitter) handle, Atiku accused the Bola Tinubu-led administration of burdening Nigerians with debt while failing to provide clear answers about the country’s fiscal challenges.
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He also faulted the National Assembly for enabling what he called a “voracious appetite” for loans.
The former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate expressed alarm over a recent World Bank report ranking Nigeria as the third most indebted country to the International Development Association (IDA), calling the development troubling.
“The recent report released by the World Bank, showing Nigeria as the third most indebted country to the International Development Association (IDA), is very concerning,” Atiku stated.
He raised further concerns about the government’s decision to benchmark the proposed loan at an exchange rate of 1 USD to N800, despite the Central Bank of Nigeria’s official rate being over N1,600.
“What makes this particular loan proposal even more concerning is that it is benchmarked at the exchange rate of 1 USD to N800, whereas the current exchange rate from the Central Bank of Nigeria stands at over N1,600 to 1 USD,” he said.
Atiku questioned the need for additional borrowing, given the government’s earlier claims of record-high revenue collection.
“In July this year, Tinubu boasted that the FIRS and Customs under his watch had collected all-time high revenues to finance the budget. Why are they still borrowing?” he said
He accused the government of a lack of transparency, describing the borrowing spree as detrimental to Nigerians already struggling under economic hardship.
“There is something that they are not telling Nigerians, even as they are being crushed by a combination of their failed trial-and-error policies and loan rackets.”
Atiku also referenced a report by BudgIT, a budget monitoring group, which criticized the 2024 budget for its inefficiencies.
He alleged that corruption, rather than infrastructure or development needs, was driving the government’s borrowing decisions.
“These loans are powered by corruption and not for infrastructure and development needs. This voracious appetite for humongous loans is deeply concerning,” he said.
Reflecting on Nigeria’s financial history, Atiku lamented the return to significant foreign indebtedness just years after former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration cleared the country’s debt.
“It is agonizing to see that just a few years after the Obasanjo administration took us out of foreign indebtedness, we are today back at the top spot in the same conundrum,” he stated.
He called for a more cautious approach to borrowing, urging the government to prioritize fiscal responsibility and transparency to avoid worsening Nigeria’s economic challenges.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has taken a historic step, issuing arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
The charges include crimes against humanity and war crimes allegedly committed during Israel’s recent assault on Gaza.
In a detailed statement, the ICC accused the Israeli leaders of “intentionally and knowingly depriving the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival, including food, water, and medicine and medical supplies, as well as fuel and electricity.”
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The ICC’s move marks a significant escalation in international scrutiny of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Netanyahu and Gallant are alleged to have orchestrated policies that caused severe harm to the civilian population in Gaza, leading to widespread condemnation from human rights organizations.
Alongside the charges against Israeli officials, the ICC also issued an arrest warrant for Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif. Deif has long been a central figure in Hamas’s military operations. Israel’s military claims to have killed him in a July airstrike, although this has not been independently verified.
The warrants highlight growing calls for accountability amid the ongoing conflict in the region. The ICC’s actions are likely to provoke heated debate and may complicate diplomatic efforts aimed at resolving the crisis.
With the warrants issued, global attention now turns to how the international community will respond and whether any practical steps will be taken to enforce them.
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