Alleged N338m Fraud: EFCC Frowns As Court Adjourns Ex-Lagos Speaker, Ikuforiji’s Re-arraingnment Till Dec 11
Segun Akanni, Toronto, Canada 
Justice Mohammed Liman of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, on Wednesday, November 27, 2019 fixed December 11, 2019 for the re-arraignment of Adeyemi Ikuforiji, a former Speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly.
Ikuforiji alongside his aide, Oyebode Atoyebi, were scheduled to be arraigned today on amended 54 counts charge bordering on money laundering and conspiracy to the tune of N338m.
One of the counts reads: “That you, Rt. Honourable Adeyemi Sabit Ikuforiji and Oyebode Aladje Atoyebi, sometime between April 2010 and July 2011 in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable court ,conspired among yourselves to do an illegal act to wit: accepting various cash payments amounting in the aggregate to the sum of N338, 801, 442 (Three Hundred and Thirty-Eight Million, Eight Hundred and One Thousand, Four Hundred and Forty -Naira) only from the Lagos State House of Assembly without going through a financial institution and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 18 (a) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act 2011 and punishable under Section 16 (2)(b) of the same Act.”
However, the scheduled re-arraignment was stalled due to the absence of the defendants in court.
The defence counsel, Tunde Akinrinmisi, while praying for an adjournment, said he was only aware of the re-arraignment yesterday, Tuesday, November 26, 2019, adding that his client, who lives in Abuja, could not make it to the court today.
In his response, the prosecution counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, said: “This is a case that the prosecution has given evidence and closed its case.
“ But Justice Ibrahim Buba, who was the trial Judge, discharged the defendants on no-case submission, which saw the case travelling from here up to the Supreme Court, where the applications of the prosecution were upheld”.
Oyedepo, who grudgingly yielded to the prayer for an adjournment by the defence, further said: “ if they took the court serious, they would be here today.”
