application filed by former Managing Director of Intercontinental Bank
PLC (now Access Bank PLC), Erastus Akingbola, seeking leave of the
court to travel abroad for medical attention.
At the resumed hearing of the suit yesterday, Akingbola' s counsel,
Mr. Micheal Igbokwe, said his client had filed an application seeking
the court's permission to travel abroad to treat an ailment that
required an emergency attention.
It will be recalled that Economic and Financial Crime commission
(EFCC) had re-arraigned Akingbola and his co-defendant, Bayo Dada, the
former General Manager of Tropic Security Limited over an alleged
theft of N47.1bn belonging to Intercontinental Bank.
The defence counsel told Justice Adeniyi Onigbanjo that there was no
health care service in Nigeria that was adequately equipped to
treatthe ailment, adding that the disease could only be treated in
developed countries like United Kingdom. Igbokwe further urged the
court to grant the request and that Akingbola had already scheduled
appointment with a London hospital.
He added that the prosecution had been served the application. But
EFCC's counsel, Mr. Godwin Obla, said he was served the application in
court and therefore required more time to respond to it. Obla said
that the position of the law was clear on the procedure of responding
to a pending application before the court, saying: "The law gives the
other party at least 48 hours to respond.''
He, however, urged the court to shortly adjourn the matter to enable
him file his response. Dada's lawyer, Prof. Taiwo Osipitan (SAN),
asked the court to vary the bail condition granted to the defendants
by the EFCC.
He said EFCC mandated the defendants to report to its office every
Monday, which according to him "is an extremely busy day for his
client''. Justice Onigbanjo adjourned the matter till April 10
Source: informationng.com
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