The planned arraignment of Yahaya Bello, former governor of Kogi State on alleged N82 billion fraud charges took a dangerous dimension on Wednesday when two senior advocates engaged in a war of words during the proceedings.
The two lawyers are Abdulwahab Mohammed, standing for Bello, SAN, and Kemi Pinheiro, SAN, standing for the federal government.
Trouble started when Mohammed announced his appearance for the former governor and left out his colleague, Adeola Adedipe, SAN.
However, the federal government counsel opposed the exclusion on the grounds that Adedipe should be included in the proceedings until discharged by the court.
Adedipe interrupted the argument of the federal government lawyer, insisting that he was not prepared to be part of the proceedings.
At this stage, Mohammed interjected and announced that Adedipe had filed a notice of withdrawal from the proceedings.
As Justice Emeka Nwite was about to deliver a ruling on the contentious appearance matter, Bello’s lawyer stood up and requested to be allowed to stay outside the proceedings if the court proceeded with the ruling.
Fuming with anger, Mohammed openly called Pinheiro, SAN, a rough lawyer who takes delight in misleading the court.
His attempt to make further abusive remarks about the federal government lawyer was aborted, but Mohammed refused to apologise, insisting that he would leave the court should the judge go ahead with the ruling.
When tempers rose beyond control, Justice Emeka Nwite, out of anger, abruptly brought the proceedings to an end by walking straight into his chamber.
At the time of this report, tension was still high in the courtroom.
Folarin Kehinde is an Abuja-based journalist with over 5 years of experience in journalism. His work has earned him national and international recognition across various beats, including environment, health and politics.
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