Justice J.T Tsoho of the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos State has withdrawn from the trial of the Chairman of Bi- Courtney Highways Services, Mr. Wale Babalakin.
His withdrawal from the case followed a letter written to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court by Babalakin, through his counsel, Abiodun Layonu, SAN, expressing fears that his fundamental human rights may not be protected by the judge. He is, consequently seeking the reassignment of the case to another Judge
While delivering his ruling on the said letter, the Judge said he had no option than to hands off the case, following the content of the petition. “Sequel to the letter written by the applicant to the Chief Judge, which I have been copied, I have gone through the petition and have seen everything in it, I therefore disqualify myself and hands off this case”, he said.
Babalakin and his counsel hinged their letter seeking reassignment of the case to another judge, on the earlier dismissal of the motion on notice, which restrained the EFCC from further prosecuting the applicant, which Justice Tsoho vacated on June 15, 2015. According to their letter, vacating the order, infringes on the fundamental human rights of the applicant, which they believe the Judge cannot protect.
It would be recalled that Justice Tsoho had on June 15, 2015, vacated the restraining order against the EFCC, which he said had outlived its life span. ”An ex-parte order is meant to be a brief intervention to prevent injury and not meant to last a long time. Therefore, the order has outlived its life span and is hereby discharged, but the respondent should not take any action that will jeopardise this proceeding” the Judge ruled.
But EFCC's counsel, Rotimi Jacobs SAN, who was obviously surprised by the development in court, immediately told the court that he had no knowledge of the letter written by the applicant to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court. According to him, he was not copied and hadn’t seen the letter or had any knowledge of its content at the time of the court's proceeding.
Babalakin is being prosecuted by the EFCC for allegedly assisting the convicted former Delta state governor, James Onanefe Ibori, to launder huge sums of money through various parties to Erin Aviation account in Mauritius for the purchase of an airplane.
Media & Publicity
30th June, 2015.
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