A Special Offences Court in Ikeja presided over by Justice Sherifat Solebo has ordered that the case file of the Chief Executive Officer ( CEO) of Golden Tulip Hotel, Amechi Ndili, be returned to Chief Judge for reassignment.
Justice Solebo gave the order as her statutory retirement date is approaching which might not permit her to complete the trial.
Amechi Ndili and two others were scheduled to be arraigned before her today but the matter was stalled as a result of the health status of the second defendant, Njide Chizoba Ndili.
The Nigeria Police had filed three count charges against Amechi Ndili, Njide Ndili and Lionstone Offshore Service Ltd. which borders on stealing, contrary to Section 516 of the Criminal Code Law, Cap C38 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.
According to charge information, the defendants between July 2012 and September 2013 in Lagos, stole by dishonestly converting the sum of Four Million, Six Hundred and Sixty Thousand, Two Hundred and Thirty-Four and Twenty-Eight United State of “America Dollars ($4,666,234.28) only property of Hercules Offshore Nigeria Ltd. to their personal use.
Appearing before the court, the ddefendant’scounsel, a Senior Advocate, Mr Ebun Shofunde, informed the court that Mrs Chizoba, Ndili who Is to be arraigned alongside other defendants, is sick and presently in hospital receiving medical care.
The silk prayed for an adjournment to enable the defendant to appear for triial while presenting a medical certificate from a private hospital to the court to affirm the health condition of Chizoba Ndili.
In a reaction, police counsel, ACP Simon Lough, SAN, expressed dismay over the development, urging the court to dismiss the prayer, noting that it’s an antic to again frustrate the trial.
ACP Lough, who pointed out that the matter has suffered a series of setbacks in the last seven years the charge was instituted, argued that the medical certificate presented to the court is in contrast to Section 198 of Administration of Criminal Law of Lagos State which stipulates that medical certificates should be produced from government hospitals.
In a short ruling, Justice Solebo noted that the section the prosecutor sighted does not apply in the instance, as defendants have not been formally arraigned before the court. She thereafter advised the party to take the matter before another judge.
The judge said that in the interest of justice it would not be proper if she started the trial and is unable to complete the trial as she would soon retire from the bench.
