BEVERLY HILLS, October 14, (THEWILL) – The absence of trial judge, Hon, Justice A. O. Adeniyi, who was away on election petition assignment outside Abuja, Wednesday, stalled the trial of the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in the forthcoming Kogi State Governorship Election, Alhaji Abubakar Audu, at the Abuja High Court.
Audu, who is also a former governor of Kogi State, is facing a 32-count charge which includes stealing, criminal breach of trust and misappropriation punishable under Section 315 of the Penal Code, Cap 532 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 1990.
He was originally arraigned in March 2013 and is being charged along with one Alfa Ibn Mustapha.
According to the charge, Audu, while as the state governor and Mustapha the Director-General of the Kogi Directorate for Rural Development (DRD), allegedly conspired to steal a total sum of N10, 965,837,040 from the State which they allegedly claimed to be payment made to Aresanmi Technical Industries Limited.
The payment, according to the charge, was in respect of a contract allegedly awarded by the Kogi Directorate of Rural Development to the Aresanmi Technical Industries Limited.
Though both Audu and Mustapha had pleaded not guilty to the charges were granted bail, no new date was fixed for the trial when the matter came up for hearing Wednesday as neither the prosecutor nor the defence counsel were present or represented in court.
