The Court of Appeal on Wednesday okayed the dismissal of the no-case submission filed by a former Abia State Governor, Orji Uzor Kalu, in response to the N7.65bn fraud charges filed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
In a lead judgment by Justice M.L. Garba, the Court of Appeal said Justice Mohammed Idris, then of the Federal High Court in Lagos, was right to have on July 31, 2018 dismissed Kalu’s no-case submission and ordered him to put in his defence.
The appellate court equally dismissed the appeals filed by Kalu’s co-defendants – Slok Nigeria Limited and Ude Udeogu – challenging the jurisdiction of Justice Idris to continue hearing the case after he was elevated from the Federal High Court to the Court of Appeal.
Justice Garba held that contrary to the appellants’ contention, Section 396(7) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015, which empowers a high judge to continue to hear a part-heard criminal matter after being elevated to the Court of Appeal, did not offend the constitution.
The appellate court, therefore, ordered the defendants to return to the high court to put in their defence.
The prosecution had last year closed its case in the 12-year-old trial after calling 19 witnesses.
But rather than open their defence, Kalu and his co-defendants filed no-case submissions.
But before Justice Idris could hear and rule on the no-case submission he was elevated to the Court of Appeal.
In order to prevent the case from being transferred to another judge to start afresh, Kalu’s lawyer, Prof. Awa Kalu (SAN), activated Section 396(7) of the ACJA and applied to the Court of Appeal’s President, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, to give a fiat to Justice Idris, so that he court return to the high court to conclude the case.
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