A Federal High Court sitting in Katsina State, on Tuesday, fixed June 26 to hear an application filed by a former governor of Katsina State, Ibrahim Shema, seeking the court to order for the release of his international passport to travel for medical treatment abroad.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in October 2018 re-arraigned Shema on 26 counts of conspiracy and money laundering.
Shema is accused of laundering N5.7 billion, which was allegedly stolen from the account of the Katsina State Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P).
He is alleged to have conspired with one Idris Kwado, who is on the run, to perpetrate the fraud.
The judge, Hadiza Shagari, fixed the date following an application by Shema’s counsel, Uyi Igunma.
Shagari, who complained that she has a backlog of cases in her former division in Lagos, said the June 26 may be the convenient date for her to hear the application.
She rejected an application by the EFCC praying the court to adjourn the hearing in the case due to other cases to attend to at the apex court.
She held that the prosecution’s argument that they had pending cases in the apex court without serving the defendants makes their application null and void.
Shagari, therefore, ordered that the case would continue.
Earlier, Igunma urged the court to quickly hear the application to release his client’s passport saying, “my client is in need of urgent medical treatment abroad.”
