There was a mild drama at an Ilorin High Court during the continuation of the hearing of the N5.78 billion case instituted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) against former Kwara State Governor Abdulfath Ahmed and erstwhile commissioner for Finance Demola Banu.
Though they were present in court, the matter was stalled midway through the hearing following disagreement between the defence counsel and the EFCC team on the documents tendered before the court as exhibits.
For several minutes, lawyer for the EFCC Rotimi Jacobs (SAN) and lawyer for the defendants Kamaldeen Ajibade (SAN), argued about the improper arrangement of documents served on the latter and the same which was tendered before the court.
Jacobs had tendered the documents to be admitted as exhibits before the court, but lawyer for the defendants insisted that the “bundle of documents” was different from what was served on them and were also not properly arranged nor numbered to guide the court in the proceedings.
Jacobs, on the other hand, argued that the documents served the defence Counsel and which were also available before the court were the same as the in his possession. He argued that it was not the duty of his team to number the documents as tendered for the defence Counsel.
After listening to both parties and carefully going through the said documents, Justice Mahmud Gafar agreed with the submission of the defence counsel that the documents needed to be properly arranged.
He then adjourned the case till February 16 for the continuation of the hearing to allow the EFCC legal team time to properly arrange the documents. Fielding questions from journalists after the adjournment, Ajibade said the request for the document to be arranged properly was in order because it has to do with “proof of evidence”.

