Izuchukwu Okosi
Trouble continued for Femi Fani Fani-Kayode and his estranged wife, Precious Chinwendu as they were arraigned in the Federal High Courts in Lagos and Abuja on Monday for money laundering and defamation of character respectively.
The Federal High Court, Ikoyi Lagos was the venue of the re-arraignment on earlier today of former Minister of Aviation Femi Fani-Kayode on an amended 17-count charge of alleged laundering of the sum of N4.6 billion.
The former Minister is standing trial alongside former Minister of State for Finance, Nenandi Usman; former Chairman of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), Yusuf Danjuma and a firm called Jointrust Dimensions Nigeria Ltd.
The defendants were formerly on trial for the alleged charges before the former trial judge, Justice Mohammed Aikawa.
They pleaded not guilty and were granted bail, following which trial began but proceedings stalled when Justice Aikawa was transferred out of the Lagos division.
The case was consequently assigned to a new judge, Justice Daniel Osaigor, and proceedings started de novo (anew).
On Monday, the defendants pleaded not guilty to the amended 17-count charge.
Meanwhile the court cases for the Fani-Kayode family did not end there on Monday as Senator Grace Bent has dragged Precious Chikwendu, estranged wife of former Aviation Minister, Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode to the Federal High Court, Abuja over alleged defamation of character.
However, when the matter was called, Chikwendu was absent in court and there was no legal representation on her behalf.
Mr Joseph Offor who announced his appearance for the prosecution said that he was holding the brief of Mr. Victor Okoye (councel to Chinwendu) who was away in Lagos.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
