Justice Danlami Senchi has adjourned hearing to June 11,
2019 on the application brought by Duaziya Louya Etete a.k.a Dan Etete,
Mohammed Bello Adoke and four others to set aside a warrant of arrest of the
same court against them.
Justice Senchi had ordered the arrest of Etete, Adoke, Ralph
Wetzels, Casula Roberto, Pujato Stefeno, and Burrato Sebastiano on April 17,
2019 for not making themselves available for trial since 2017.
Etete and others are facing prosecution by the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for alleged fraudulent allocation of Oil
Prospecting Licence, OPL 245 and OPL 214, conspiracy, money laundering to the
tune of over $1.2 billion; forgery of bank documents, bribery and corruption
against Malabu Oil and Gas Ltd that belongs to Etete.
Also standing trial are Shell Nigeria Ultra Deep (SNUD),
Nigeria Agip Exploration (NAE) and their officials.
Etete's counsel, L.O Ikwegwe told the court that she had
just been served with the EFCC's counter-affidavit and will need time to respond
to it.
Joe Gadzama SAN, who is representing the fifth, sixth and
seventh defendants told the court that he was in the same boat with his
colleagues as he was yet to see the EFCC's counter-affidavit and therefore,
will be asking for an adjournment.
He told the court that he served the EFCC the defendant's
affidavit since April 24, 2019, accompanied with the hearing notice, adding
that with the new issues introduced in the counter-affidavit, he will be filing
additional processes. He urged the court to make the prosecution an undertaking
not to proceed with the arrest since there was a legal challenge to it. He
urged the court to put the order on hold since the matter was not heard.
Faje Opasanya SAN, representing the fourth defendant also
told the court that he was also constrained to ask for adjournment as new
allegations were raised in the EFCC's counter-affidavit.
He also told the court to restrain the EFCC from carrying
out the arrest order. He stated that if by the next date his clients were arrested,
the essence of the application would have been defeated.
Counsel to EFCC, Aliyu Yusuf reminded the court that the
defendants' applications were for stay of execution of the warrant of arrest
and therefore prayed the court to reject the oral application for the stay.
Justice Senchi adjourned the matter to June 11, 2019 for
hearing. He noted that the oral stay of execution submission made by the
defendants' touched on the main application and ordered an accelerated hearing
on the matter.
He further ordered that any party that needed to file any
processes must do so by June 5, 2019, and that no processes shall be accepted
after the date.
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