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Nigeria: Iyabo Remanded in Police Custody, Weeps
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Vanguard (Lagos)
20 May 2008
Posted to the web 20 May 2008
Ise-Oluwa Ige
Lagos
DAUGHTER of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Iyabo, yesterday battled with tears, after an Abuja High Court ordered her detention in police custody till May 21, this year.
N300m Scam: Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello making calls before going to police cell at Abuja High Court. Photo by Gbemiga Olamikan.
Senator Obasanjo-Bello appeared before the Abuja court yesterday 42 days after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) declared her wanted IN connection with a two-count charge of stealing N10 million belonging to the Federal Government.
The Senate pledged its support for her.
She entered a plea of not guilty to the charge before she openly broke down, twice, in tears, in court.
But she escaped being sent to Kuje Prisons after the Abuja High Court dismissed her application challenging the competence of the charge filed against her and okayed her for trial.
Time was 11:47a.m. She was sitting calmly beside the dock with her lawyer, Mr B J Akomolafe, moments after proceedings in the case, strategising when emotion overran her.
Although she said nothing before the tears streamed down, she shook her head as if she was remembering something.
But only a few people noticed the drama as some of her supporters who thronged the courtroom to witness the proceedings, realised what was happening and tried to shield the sight.
She wept again at 12:13 p.m while acknowledging cheers from her supporters who were chanting "IOB" meaning "Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello," outside the courtroom.
Another set of people who were not sympathetic to her travails were also in court jeering at her.
She struggled to avoid the lens of camera stationed at the main entrance of the courtroom of Justice Salishu Garba of the Abuja High Court by leaving through the judge's chambers.
But it was not only Iyabo that wept yesterday, a lot of her admirers, men and women, who noticed her shed tears started wailing uncontrollably.
History of case
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had charged the immediate Health Minister, Prof Adenike Grange; her deputy, Architect Gabriel Yakubu Aduku; and 11 others on a 56-count charge of graft involving about N300 million.
Senator Obasanjo-Bello's name which was mentioned as having partaken in the graft, was initially missing on the list of the accused persons charged to court.
The EFCC had explained that her name was missing but present in the body of the charge because she was then at large and could not be arrested for prosecution but that anywhere and anytime she was found, she would be arrested and promptly brought to justice.
For more than one month, EFCC failed in its bid to get her arrested.
The Senator, according to count 56 of the charge read to her, was alleged to have, between December 2007 and March 2008 in Abuja while serving as the chairperson of the Senate Committee on Health, dishonestly received the sum of N10 million belonging to the Federal Government having reason to believe that same was stolen.
Her action is said to have constituted an offence punishable under section 317 of the Penal Code Act Cap 352, Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Abuja.
But against all expectations, yesterday, the embattled Senator Obasanjo-Bello made an appearance in court from her hideout. She was not allowed to go back home a free person.
Remanded in Police custody
Justice Salisu Garba of the Federal Capital Territory High Court ordered that she be remanded at Maitama Police Station after he okayed her for trial over her alleged role in the N300 million unspent budget of the Health Ministry.
Justice Garba held that her non-appearance in court before yesterday jeopardised the chances of getting her applications considered on its merit.
Since her applications seeking to quash the charge against her was struck out, the court ruled that she must appear in court to take her plea on May 21.
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Counsel to the EFCC, Mr James Binang, insisted on Obasanjo-Bello's presence in court as consideration of the applications brought on her behalf. Binang had prayed the court to guard against the abuse of its process.
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