Court refuses to relocate Orji Kalu’s trial to Lagos due to allegations of N7.1 billion fraud

By Adeleye Kunle

A Federal High Court in Abuja has denied a request to transfer the trial of former Abia State Governor Orji Kalu to the court’s Lagos division.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had asked the court to transfer the N7.1 billion money laundering charge against Kalu and two others to the Lagos division of the Federal High Court, in accordance with an earlier ruling by the Court of Appeal that Lagos was the proper forum for the case’s trial.

In a ruling issued on Friday, Justice Inyang Ekwo denied the EFCC’s application, arguing that only the court’s Chief Judge has the authority to transfer such a case under Section 98 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015.

Justice Ekwo ruled that the prosecution had twice written to the Chief Judge requesting a transfer, which the Chief Judge had denied.

He stated that the prosecution should either follow the decision of the court’s Chief Judge or return to the Supreme Court to seek a review of its earlier order directing that the case be re-heard by the Federal High Court.

The Judge stated that granting the request to transfer the case to Lagos would violate Section 235 of the 1999 Constitution and would amount to a challenge to the Supreme Court of Nigeria’s finality and supremacy.

Justice Ekwo, who described the EFCC’s application as an abuse of court process, ordered Rotomi Jacobs, the lawyer, to show cause why he should not be disqualified from further prosecuting the case within seven days. He then postponed further proceedings in the case until October.