By TAIYE AGBAJE

The Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday, adjourned the trial of former Governor of Benue, Gabriel Suswam until Jan. 20, 2026 for adoption of final written address.

Justice Peter Lifu adjourned the matter after Suswam and his co-defendant, Omodachi Okolobia, the then Commissioner for Finance in Benue, closed their defence in the money laundering trial

Justice Lifu gave the EFCC, the prosecuting agency, 14 days to file and serve their final written address and 14 days for the defendants to respond upon service before adjournment.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Suswam and Okolobia are facing an 11-count amended charge.

The offences bordered on alleged misappropriation of N3.1 billion said to be part of proceeds from the sale of shares owned by the Benue State Government through the Benue Investment and Property Company Limited.

The transactions were allegedly carried out through Elixir Securities Limited and Elixir Investment Partners Limited.

The EFCC had closed its case after calling nine witnesses.

But instead of the defendants to open their defence, they opted for a no-case-submission, arguing that they did not have a case to answer on the alleged diversion of the public funds.

Justice Lifu, however, in a ruling on July 23, dismissed the no-case submission filed by Suswam and his co-defendant and ordered them to open their defence.

According to the judge, the totality of evidence the anti-graft agency adduced before the court established a prima facie case that warranted an explanation from the defendants.

He held that the no-case submission lacked merit.

Suswam, who piloted the affairs of Benue from 2007 to 2015, alongside his co-defendant, had in the application they anchored on Sections 302 and 303 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015, prayed the court to terminate further proceedings on the case against them.

They contended that the EFCC failed, by way of credible evidence, to link them with allegations it raised in the charge before the court.

Their request was, however, opposed by the prosecution, which insisted that both documentary and oral evidence of witnesses that testified in the matter nailed the defendants to the alleged crime.

Delivering his ruling, Justice Lifu held that he found no merit in the defendants’ applications and accordingly dismissed them.

“Consequently, upon my conclusion on the above stated, the defendants’ no-case submission is hereby refused and dismissed.

“The defendants are hereby called upon to enter their various defences,” Justice Lifu held.

The EFCC had, in 2015, charged the erstwhile governor and his former commissioner of finance to court following an allegation that they looted proceeds of shares owned by the Benue government and Benue Investment and Property Company Ltd.

EFCC alleged that the duo laundered about N3.1 billion using two companies—Elixir Securities Limited and Elixir Investment Partners Limited—as their conduit pipes.

The defendants were subsequently re-arraigned before the court on Nov. 2, 2020.

In the amended charge, the EFCC, among other things, alleged that the 2nd defendant, Okolobia, transacted a total sum of N578 million in four tranches, in excess of the threshold of cash transactions permitted by the money laundering law.

He was said to have committed the offences between December 2014 and January 2015.

The defendants pleaded not guilty to the charge, and the court ordered their release on bail, pending the determination of the case. (NAN)