{"id":128570,"date":"2026-07-22T19:45:35","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T18:45:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=128570"},"modified":"2026-07-22T19:45:35","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T18:45:35","slug":"lamidos-n1-35bn-fraud-trial-suffers-fresh-delay-over-defence-counsels-absence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/lamidos-n1-35bn-fraud-trial-suffers-fresh-delay-over-defence-counsels-absence\/","title":{"rendered":"Lamido&#8217;s N1.35bn Fraud Trial Suffers Fresh Delay Over Defence Counsel&#8217;s Absence"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>By Lizzy Chirkpi<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The trial of former Jigawa State Governor, Sule Lamido, and his two sons, Aminu and Mustapha Lamido, over an alleged N1.35 billion fraud has suffered another setback following the absence of their lead defence counsel, Joe Agi, SAN, at the Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The development forced the court to adjourn proceedings after the defence informed the court that Agi had travelled abroad and was unavailable to continue with the trial.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is prosecuting Lamido and his sons on a 37-count charge bordering on alleged money laundering, receipt of kickbacks and award of fictitious contracts valued at N1.35 billion. The offences were allegedly committed during Lamido&#8217;s tenure as governor of Jigawa State between 2007 and 2015.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">When the matter came up for continuation of trial before Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu, defence counsel, O. F. Ekegba, told the court that Agi had travelled to Germany to meet with a witness and had taken along the relevant case documents.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">&#8220;My Lord, the lead counsel has travelled to Germany to have a meeting with the witness and has taken along the documents with him. We undertake to close our case within three days if granted a date in September,&#8221; Ekegba said.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The prosecution, led by Chile Okoroma, SAN, did not oppose the request for adjournment, although he informed the court that the EFCC had only received the affidavit explaining Agi&#8217;s absence on the day of the proceedings.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">&#8220;My Lord, we have been served with the affidavit of facts this morning in court. Ordinarily, I would have loved to respond, but my learned brother, Ekegba, has assured me that they will conclude their case within two to three days in September. He also explained to me that the file of the case is with the lead counsel. My Lord, based on the undertaking before this court, I will concede the adjournment,&#8221; Okoroma said.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">After listening to submissions from both sides, Justice Ojukwu adjourned the matter to a date in September 2026, which will be communicated to the parties, for continuation of trial.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The adjournment represents another delay in the prosecution of the former governor and his sons, whose trial has been ongoing for several years over allegations bordering on financial misconduct during Lamido&#8217;s administration.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The defendants have denied the allegations and are entitled to the presumption of innocence until proven guilty by the court.<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Lizzy Chirkpi The trial of former Jigawa State Governor, Sule Lamido, and his two sons, Aminu and Mustapha Lamido, over an alleged N1.35 billion fraud has suffered another setback&hellip;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":128571,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-128570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - 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