A former Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Adesola Amosu (rtd.), was on Tuesday re-arraigned before a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for an alleged fraud of N21.4bn.

Amosu was re-arraigned alongside Air Vice Marshal Jacob Adigun and Air Commodore Olugbenga Gbadebo, on 13 counts bordering on the alleged crimes.

Recall that the trio was first arraigned in June 2016 alongside eight firms before Justice Mohammed Idris.

Their re-arraignment before Justice C.J Aneke on Tuesday followed the elevation of Justice Idris to the Court of Appeal.

As a result of Justice Idris’ elevation, Amosu’s trial, which has lasted over two years in court, is starting afresh before Justice Aneke.

The EFCC used the opportunity to amend the charge sheet by dropping the names of the eight firms, which were joined as defendants in the earlier charge sheet.

Prior to the re-arraignment of the defendants on Tuesday, Justice Aneke, in a ruling, rejected the prayer by the defence counsel that the eight firms, whose names were removed from the charge sheet, should first be discharged and acquitted before any further action.

But Justice Aneke, in his ruling faulted the argument of the defence counsel and directed that the amended charges be read to Amosu, Adigun and Gbadebo.

He adjourned till Wednesday for the continuation of trial.

The EFCC revealed that it has made moves to secure a permanent forfeiture order on a sum of N2.2bn recovered from Amosu.

•Excerpted from a Tribune report