Senator Nenadi Usman, a former Minister of State for Finance who is being tried for a large sum of money( N4.9bn) fraud, has urged Justice Muslim Hassan of the Federal High Court in Lagos to permit her to travel abroad to receive treatment for breast cancer
Usman’s lawyer, Mr. Abiodun Owonikoko (SAN), told the judge of the federal high court on Wednesday that his client underwent surgery for breast cancer few months ago and she needed to travel abroad for checkup because she had begun to show signs of relapse.
Mr. Abiodun Owonikoko (SAN),urged Justice Hassan to immediately consider Usman’s application for her passport to be released, which she deposited as part of bail conditions given her to enable her travel.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, which is prosecuting Usman alongside a former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani- Kayode, Yusuf Danjuma and Jointrust Dimentions Nigeria Limited, however, opposed immediate hearing of Usman’s application on Wednesday.
The EFCC lawyer, Mr. Rotimi Oyedepo, urged the court to first hear applications by the defendants challenging the court’s jurisdiction.
Oyedepo also argued that Usman’s application needed to be amended because it was filed on December 2, 2016 and the travel permission she sought in the application was to start from December 20, 2016 and end on January 30, 2017.
“The time the applicant is expected to travel has elapsed and the application has not been amended,” Oyedepo argued.
But both Fani-Kayode’s lawyer, Mr. Norrison Quakers (SAN), and Danjuma’s lawyer, Mr. Clement Onwuenwunor, aligned themselves with the request of Usman’s lawyer, Owonikoko, urging the court to hear the ex-minister’s application to travel abroad first.
In a bench ruling, however, Justice Hassan said the application challenging his jurisdiction must first be heard and determined before he could consider Usman’s application to travel abroad.
“The law is clear. The court is obliged to determine the issue of jurisdiction first. I am inclined to take the application challenging the competence of this court to entertain the case,” the judge held.
He adjourned till March 1, 2017 to take the pending applications.
Credit: Sahara reporters
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