Justice Sharon T. Ishaya of Federal High
Court, sitting in Jos, Plateau State, on Thursday, March 27,
2025 adjourned until May 29 and 30, 2025, the re-arraignment and
trial of Secretary and Chairman of Covenant Fadama Multi-purpose
Cooperative Society, Jos, Okewole Dayo and Bishop Katung Jonas.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,
EFCC is prosecuting Dayo, Jonas, and late Mamman Irmiya Jatau on a 23-count
charge, bordering on conspiracy, obtaining by false pretense and
money laundering to the tune of ?178,885,000 (One Hundred and Seventy-Eight
Million, Eight Hundred and Eighty-five Thousand Naira).
The adjournment followed the amendment of the charges
by the prosecution and the need for the defendants to study the alteration
before taking their pleas.
As proceedings commenced, defence counsel
C.I. Nwogbo, representing the first defendant, and G.G. Aji, representing the
second defendant, informed the court that they were only served the
amended charges in the morning and requested time for their clients to
study the new charges before responding.
“My Lord, we were only served the amended charge at
9am today. We believe we ought to have received it earlier so that our clients
could review the charges against them. In these circumstances, we are applying
for an adjournment to allow the first defendant to study the charges and
prepare his response,” he said.
In his response, prosecution counsel,
Ibrahim Buba, explained that the only change in the charges was the removal of
Dadin Kowa Microfinance Bank, since its licence had been revoked by
the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, stating that
the Commission needed to satisfactorily confirm
the bank’s status with the apex bank before filing the
amendment. He urged the court to proceed with
the arraignment since the defendants are familiar with
the previous charge, which included the bank, since about two months ago.
“My Lord, the reason for filing the amended charge a
day before the scheduled arraignment was because we had to write to the CBN to
confirm the status of Dadin Kowa Microfinance Bank, and subsequently amended
the charge to remove the bank. Apart from this change, the charges remain
largely the same,” he said.
Justice Ishaya, however, ruled that arraignment
was an integral part of a fair trial and that the defendants must be given
adequate time to prepare their defence. She adjourned the case till May 29
and 30, 2025, for re-arraignment and commencement of trial.
The defendants allegedly lured unsuspecting
members of the public to invest in their fraudulent
cooperative society and allegedly transferred the proceeds of their
crime to various banks which later withdrew through
their proxies for acquisition properties in Jos and Kaduna.
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