Justice F. Giwa Ogunbanjo of Federal High Court, Abuja on Thursday, November 21, 2024, expressed displeasure upon discovery that a defendant, Nicholas Mutu has been jetting out of the country with an undeclared passport and without the express permission of the court in violation of his bail conditions.
Mutu, who served as Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), between August 2014 and August 2016 is facing prosecution by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on 13-count charges of money laundering to the tune of N320million.
Justice Ogunbanjo during proceedings noted that the defendant’s overseas travel without the court’s permission was intolerable and that such contempt of her court would not be overlooked. “There is no justification for the defendant to flout the order of this honorable court. The order is that the defendant must not leave this country without express permission from the court and it appears that he has left without permission or even notification. I am not going to sweep it under the carpet,” she said.
Mutu’s unauthorised journeys became known when prosecution counsel, Ekele Iheanacho, SAN informed the court that investigation from the Nigerian Immigration Service showed that the defendant has been traveling out of the country with a passport that was not among the three he surrendered to the EFCC, and which the Commission deposited with the court.
While praying for the revocation of the defendant’s bail, Iheanacho argued that, “The provision of Section 173 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act and Section 175 allow this court to revoke his bail, because with another passport, the defendant can take off at any time, having admitted that he has another passport and has travelled with it. Also for the defence to make an assertion against the EFCC that they did not collect all his passports at the time he was in our office has no basis, because the bail conditions required that he gets express permission from the court. So I urge this honourable court to revoke his bail.”
Until it was found during the proceedings of Wednesday, November 20, 2024, through a thorough search of the repositories of the court’s Registry, the whereabouts of Mutu’s three passports could not be traced for months on end, prompting a blame game between the court and the prosecution and resulting in the slow progress of the trial following the judge’s insistence that the passport must be traced and produced.
Upon a successful tracing of the passports in the court’s Registry on Wednesday, Justice Ogunbanjo during the proceedings of Thursday, November 21, 2024, tendered an apology to the prosecution. “I would like to apologize to Iheanacho. This situation has put us through so much embrasement. We have always thought that the passports were not in our custody. Yesterday, when I was informed that the Registry found the passports, I was shocked, considering everything that has happened. On behalf of the Registry of the court, I apologize to you; everything looked like you haven’t delivered the passport. I must also advise that when you bring processes or documents to court, you must attach proper acknowledgement to show that you deposited them,” she said.
In addition, the judge ordered the defendant to deposit all his passports with the court registrar and held that he must not travel out of the country until the court gets to the root of his overseas trips in violation of his bail conditions.
The matter was adjourned to February 17, 18, 2024 following an affidavit filed by defence counsel, P.I.N Ikwueto, SAN, to which the prosecution asked for time to study it and respond appropriately.
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