A Federal Capital Territory High Court sitting in Abuja has dismissed an application filed on behalf of a former Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Sadiya Umar Farouq, who was seeking to set aside the bench warrant of arrest issued against her. With the ruling, the warrant against the former minister remains in force.
Ms Farouq is not standing trial alone. She is being prosecuted alongside two other defendants, Bashir Alkali and Sani Mohammed, in a case brought before the court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the EFCC.
According to the charges, the trio are accused of an alleged criminal conspiracy, abuse of office and diversion of public funds. The sums involved are put at 1.3 million dollars and 746.7 million naira, which the anti-graft agency says were improperly handled. The defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Delivering the ruling, the judge held that the defendant had willfully failed to appear in court without a valid reason. He maintained that the law empowers the court, once it is satisfied that a defendant is absent from proceedings without justification, to issue a bench warrant of arrest against that person.
Following the ruling, counsel to the commission, Mr Rotimi Jacobs, asked the court to enforce an undertaking said to have been made by the former minister's counsel, Mr Ibrahim, to produce his client before the court. The request added a fresh point of contention to the day's proceedings.
Responding, Mr A. M. Lawal, who appeared for the defence, asked the court to allow the senior advocate to personally respond to the issue of the undertaking. The judge granted the request, stating that Mr Ibrahim should be allowed to be in court to defend himself on the subject.
The case forms part of a wider prosecution that has drawn significant public attention, given Ms Farouq's former role at the head of the humanitarian affairs ministry. With the bench warrant left standing, attention now turns to whether the former minister will be produced before the court for the next stage of the proceedings.