Admin l Friday, May 25, 2018
IKEJA, Lagos, Nigeria – Proceeding was stalled in the trial Rickey Tarfa, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN)at Ikeja High Court on Thursday due a shouting bout between Mr G. K Latona a prosecutor of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Mr Abiodun Owonikoko (SAN) Tarfa’s defence counsel.
Tarfa is on trial for allegedly obstructing justice when he prevented officials of EFCC, Moses Awolusi and Sanusi Mohammed on Feb. 5, 2016 from arresting, Gnanhoue Sourou and Nazaire Odeste, his client in the premises of a court in Igbosere, Lagos.
The fracas ensured when Owonikoko, insisted that the court must provide him, the official records of proceedings of the case before he starts his defence of Tarfa.
Thursday’s proceedings was initially scheduled for the opening of Tarfa’s defence following the March 5 dismissal of no case submission filed by the SAN’s defence team.
During proceedings, Mr Abiodun Owonikoko (SAN), the defence counsel of Tarfa told the court that he needed the record of the court proceedings in the case before he could proceed with his client’s defence.
He noted that he had made a formal application for the court documents but had not been obliged.
“Our point of reference is that we have a pending application for the record of proceedings. We made an appeal during the last hearing for the record of proceedings and we have not yet gotten it.
“We have been applying now for two years, we need it for our defence, the records we need is the record of the court and not of my colleagues. It is scandalous that we are doing a trial of this nature and we have no record of proceedings,” Owonikoko said.
Responding, Mr G.K Latona, the prosecuting counsel for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) told the court that he found Owonikoko’s request unusual.
“I find the observation of the learned silk strange, a record of proceedings was used copiously in their no case submission,” he said.
Following Latona’s observation, a shouting match ensued between the EFCC Counsel and the SAN with with both men issuing threats to each other. Adjourning the case due to the drama, Justice Aishat Opesanwo noted that Tarfa’s defence team are not obliged to open their case with an official record of the proceedings of the case.
“A court cannot be compelled by counsel to produce the records of proceedings before he can open his defence. This case is adjourned until June 22 for opening of defence,” Opesanwo said.
Earlier during proceedings, Owonikoko had in an interlocutory application dated May 15, sought the leave of the court to appeal the court’s March 5 ruling dismissing Tarfa’s no case submission. Tarfa is facing a three-count charge of obstruction of justice and perverting the course of justice.
