The Federal High Court in Abuja rejected on Wednesday former Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello’s application to halt his arraignment on N80 billion money laundering charges.
The judge, Emeka Nwite, also referred Mr Bello’s lawyers – Abdulwahab Mohammed and Adeola Adedipe, both Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN) – to the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) for probe over alleged professional misconduct.
Mr Nwite directed the LPDC to investigate if the two lawyers have not violated the legal practitioners’ rules of professional conduct by reneging on the undertaking they gave the judge to produce Mr Bello in court for his arraignment.
“Ordinarily, I would have taken this matter head-on, but I would prefer to refer the matter to the Legal Practitioners’ Disciplinary Committee to propose necessary recommendations and necessary sanctions against the lawyers,” the judge said.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) charged Mr Bello with…