Justice Mohammed Idris on Wednesday said the Court of Appeal President Zainab Bulkachuwa did not give him a fiat to continue to adjudicate on the trial of former Abia State Governor Orji Uzor Kalu.
The judge was handling the 12-year-old case at the Federal High Court in Lagos before he was elevated to appellate court last June 13.
While he was given a fiat to conclude the cases of former Oyo State Governor Rashidi Ladoja and former President Goodluck Jonathan’s ex-aide Waripamo-Owei Dudafa, he said he got no such authorisation for Kalu’s.
Justice Idris therefore adjourned Kalu’s trial indefinitely.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) re-arraigned Kalu for allegedly laundering N7.65billion state funds.
EFCC said Kalu, as Abia State governor between 2001 and September 2006, procured Slok Nigeria Ltd, a company owned by him and members of his family, to retain N7.2billion in its Inland Bank Plc account, on his behalf.
THENATION/BEN