Justice F. Giwa Ogunbanjo of Federal High
Court, Abuja on Thursday, November 21, 2024, expressed
displeasure upon discovery that a defendant, Nicholas Mutu has
been jetting out of the country with an undeclared passport and
without the express permission of the court in violation of his
bail conditions.
Mutu, who served as Chairman, House of
Representatives Committee on Niger Delta Development Commission
(NDDC), between August 2014 and August 2016 is facing prosecution by
the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on 13-count
charges of money laundering to the tune of N320million.
Justice Ogunbanjo during
proceedings noted that the
defendant’s overseas travel without the
court’s permission was intolerable and that such
contempt of her court would not be overlooked. "There
is no justification for the defendant to flout the order of this honorable
court. The order is that the defendant must not leave this country without
express permission from the court and it appears that he has left without
permission or even notification. I am not going to sweep it under the
carpet,” she said.
Mutu’s unauthorised journeys became
known when prosecution counsel, Ekele Iheanacho, SAN informed the court
that investigation from the Nigerian Immigration Service showed that
the defendant has been traveling out of the country with a passport that was
not among the three he surrendered to the EFCC, and which the
Commission deposited with the court.
While praying for the revocation of the defendant’s
bail, Iheanacho argued that, “The provision of Section 173 of the
Administration of Criminal Justice Act and Section 175 allow this court to
revoke his bail, because with another passport, the defendant can take off at
any time, having admitted that he has another passport and has travelled
with it. Also for the defence to make an assertion against the EFCC that they
did not collect all his passports at the time he was in our office has no
basis, because the bail conditions required that he gets express
permission from the court. So I urge this honourable court to revoke his bail.”
Until it was found during the proceedings
of Wednesday, November 20, 2024, through a thorough search of the
repositories of the court’s Registry, the whereabouts of Mutu’s three passports
could not be traced for months on end, prompting a blame game between the court
and the prosecution and resulting in the slow progress of the trial following
the judge’s insistence that the passport must be traced and produced.
Upon a successful tracing of the passports in the
court’s Registry on Wednesday, Justice Ogunbanjo during the
proceedings of Thursday, November 21, 2024, tendered an apology to the
prosecution. “I would like to apologize to Iheanacho. This
situation has put us through so much embrasement. We
have always thought that the passports were not in our
custody. Yesterday, when I was informed that the Registry found the
passports, I was shocked, considering everything that has
happened. On behalf of the Registry of the court, I apologize to you;
everything looked like you haven’t delivered the passport. I must also advise
that when you bring processes or documents to court, you must attach proper
acknowledgement to show that you deposited them," she said.
In addition, the judge ordered the defendant to
deposit all his passports with the court registrar and held that he
must not travel out of the country until the court gets to
the root of his overseas trips in violation of his bail conditions.
The matter was adjourned to February 17, 18,
2024 following an affidavit filed by defence counsel, P.I.N
Ikwueto, SAN, to which the prosecution asked for time to
study it and respond appropriately.
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