Funso Muraina
23 June 2009
Abuja — Former Aviation Minister, Professor Babalola Borishade and an Austrian businessman, Mr. George Eder, yesterday asked Justice Sadiq Umar of an Abuja High Court to strike out the exhibit tendered against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in the N6.5billion Safe Tower Project brought before the court by the commission, saying it failed the requirement of law.
The duo are being tried along with two others, former Managing Director of Nigeria Airspace Management Agency(NAMA), Mr. Roland Iyayi, and Mr. T.A Dairo, the Personal Assistant to Borishade.
At yesterday's proceeding, counsel to Borishade, Mr. Joel Bankole Akomolafe, objected to the procedure adopted by the EFCC lawyer, Mr. Chile Okoroma, in tendering exhibit against the accused persons.
He asked the court to expunge all the exhibits tendered so far in the case by the EFCC,saying due process of the law was not followed in tendering the exhibits. Counsel to Eder, Mr. Rickey Tarfa, SAN, also agreed with the submission of Akomolafe.
The witness called by the EFCC could not go on with his evidence because Akomolafe objected to the procedure adopted by Okoroma in tendering evidence. Among the witnesses the EFCC had called so far was the Director-General of Bureau of Public Procurement who said that due process was followed in the award of contract for the replacement of obsolete equipment in four of Nigeria's Airports.
Federal Government awarded contract for the replacement of obsolete equipment in the Control Towers of Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport in Abuja, Murtala Mohammed International Airports in Lagos and the Port-Harcourt Airport.
Work had been completed in the three airports. The only airport where work is yet to start is that of Kano Airport . In objecting to the tendering of a document by Okoroma, Akomolafe said, statements are not supposed to be admitted this way.
"Statement made extra-judicially are not relevant to this proceedings. Any witness that is in the court is bound to give evidence orally.
"The Supreme Court has said that it is an unlawful procedure. The witness should go straight to the point in his evidence.
"It is unlawful for the court to admit statement extra-judicially by a witness. What the court can only rely on is the oral evidence given by the witness. So far in this proceedings, only one exhibit is lawful," he said.
"The Supreme Court said it should never have been tendered or admitted. The court cannot use them because they are not needed. The only occasion where it should be used is when there is contracdiction in the evidence of the witness. The prosecution has been adopting wrong procedure. He has been misleading the court", he said.
EFCC counsel is yet to respond to the objection.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 This Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
