Andrew Yakubu is not the first elite to say he's too ill to stand trial for corruption. Pulse profiles the other six.
Shortly before he was remanded at the Kuje prison on Thursday, March 16, 2017, former Managing Director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Andrew Yakubu, entered a plea.
He was too ill to continue with his trial, he said, and would need to travel abroad for medical treatment.
In February, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), discovered $9.8M in a Kaduna bunker.
Yakubu has since said the money belongs to him and is suing the federal government to have the sum returned.
Arguing at the federal high court in Abuja, Ahmed Raji who is Yakubu's lawyer, urged the court to speedily grant his client bail on self recognisance.
Raji also urged the court to order the interim release of his client's international passport because Yakubu needs same to travel abroad for medical treatment.
According to Raji, Yakubu was just about to head to the UK to treat prostate cancer when an EFCC invitation put paid to his plans.
ALSO READ: How anti-graft agency found $9.8M in ex-GMD's apartment
Yakubu is not the first high profile ex public official to play the illness card during his trial.
Here are a few others who blazed the trail before Yakubu in recent times:
1. Sambo Dasuki
Nigeria's former National Security Adviser (NSA), Sambo Dasuki, is standing trial for illegal possession of firearms, money laundering and corruption to the tune of $2.2B.
Since his trial commenced in 2015, Dasuki has consistently pleaded that he be allowed to travel abroad for medical treatment.
The DSS seized Dasuki's international passport and defied the ruling of Justice Adeniyi Ademola of a federal high court to have Dasuki's travelling documents released.
2. Ada Ugo-Ngali
The MD of Ontario Oil and Gas Ltd slumped in the dock and was rushed to a hospital during her trial for oil subsidy fraud on January 13, 2017.
She slumped on the day her sentence was about to be read.
She was specifically rushed to the Intensive Care Unit of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) to be fit enough to hear her sentence a few days later.
On the day she was sentenced to 10 years behind bars for oil subsidy fraud perpetrated alongside others in 2012, Ugo-Ngali showed up in a wheelchair.
3. Olisa Metuh
Paper-eating former national publicity secretary of the PDP, Metuh often cited a recurring spinal chord ailment as reason why he couldn't stand trial for allegedly receiving N400M of stolen funds from Dasuki.
Metuh has collapsed at a PDP event and slumped to his bum when he stood up to sing at his church on Sunday, January 8, 2017.
He's since lost plenty of weight and his famed 'beard gang' now looks incongruous on the man.
4. Patrick Akpobolokemi
This former Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) is so ill these days, he appears in court on crutches while limping heavily.
Akpobolokemi is standing trial for an alleged fraud totalling N2.6B while he was NIMASA boss.
His lawyer, Joseph Nwobike (SAN) often reminds the court that his client is too ill and frail to stand trial.
5. Diezani Alison-Madueke
She was the one who got away.
Former petroleum resources minister, Diezani is reportedly treating cancer in a London Hospital at the time of filing this.
ALSO READ: Why Diezani's $153M theft should make you very angry
Back home, she's wanted for money laundering and corruption in the billions of Naira.
On Friday, January 6, 2017, a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos ruled that a certain $153.3M allegedly stolen by Diezani Alison-Madueke, be forfeited to the federal government.
Diezani also allegedly bribed electoral officers to the tune of N23B in 2015 to swing the outcome of the presidential election, Goodluck Jonathan's way.
6. Haliru Mohammed Bello
In January of 2016, when former national chairman of the PDP, Haliru Bello, was arraigned before a federal High Court in Abuja on the back of allegations that he benefited from the Dasuki arms procurement loot, he showed up in a wheelchair.
He was too ill to continue trial, he said.
Bello and his son were being arraigned for alleged diversion of arms procurement fund to the tune of N300M.
7. Femi Fani Kayode
Standing trial for an alleged diversion of N26M, this former Aviation Minister's lawyer, Wale Balogun, says his client is becoming too ill to stand trial.
But Fani-Kayode's supposed illness hasn't prevented him from writing tons of essays castigating President Buhari and the APC.
Bad guy!
from pulse.ng - Nigeria's entertainment & lifestyle platform online http://ift.tt/2mbrw1v
via IFTTT
