Justice O.A. Adeniyi of a Federal Capital Territory High Court sitting in Abuja on Tuesday, 28th June 2022, adjourned the trial of a former director, Legal Services of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Grace Taiga till 29 September 2022 for the continuation of trial.
Taiga is facing prosecution by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for alleged fraud involving the Process and Industrial Development (P&ID).
At yesterday’s sitting, defence counsel, Daniel Alumun, urged the court to grant an adjournment on the grounds that the defendant was on admission at the Garki Hospital, where she is also scheduled to undergo dialysis.
Alumun further apologized to the court for his inability to present the defendant’s medical report. “Our major challenge has been obtaining reports from the hospital. When I spoke to the daughter this morning about the report, she said the senior consultant who is supposed to sign it is not around, and we noticed that the hospital is reluctant to sign a report. In this circumstance, regrettably, we are constrained to ask for a date,” he added.
Prosecution counsel, Abba Muhammad said he was only informed about the development in court, adding that he was in court with three witnesses, ready to testify.
“Our three witnesses are here… Mr Dikko is also here, a former Director of Legal, at the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and one of our investigators is also here. If the opportunity to take them today had materialized, we would have been left with only one witness to call and close the case of the prosecution. Apparently, that is not going to be; it is unfortunate,” he lamented.
Justice Adeniyi adjourned the matter till 29th September 2022 for the continuation of the trial.
