By Innocent Anaba

A former Minister of State for Finance, Mrs Nenadi Usman, has asked a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos to permit her to travel abroad to receive treatment for breast cancer.

She said doctors at the National Hospital recommended that she seeks further treatment abroad after suffering a relapse following a surgery.

The application, however, could not be heard because the trial judge, Justice Muslim Hassan, ruled that he is first to consider a pending application challenging the court’s jurisdiction.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, arraigned Usman along with former Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode.

They were charged along with former National Chairman of the Association of Local Government of Nigeria, and ex-Chairman of Kagarko Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Mr. Yusuf Danjuma and a company said to belong to him, Jointrust Dimensions Nigeria Limited.

They were arraigned on a 17-count charge of laundering about N4.6 billion.

Nenadi Usman

They pleaded not guilty.

Fani-Kayode on the other hand, is asking the judge to disqualify himself because he was “worried and terrified” that he would not get a fair hearing from Justice Hassan.

He is asking the judge to decline jurisdiction and transfer the case to the court’s Abuja division, adding that Justice Hassan, who worked as a prosecutor at the Federal Ministry of Justice and later seconded to the EFCC, signed the charge against him when he was previously tried and acquitted by Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumobia for money laundering

Usman, in her applications, is praying the court to allow her to be tried separately from Fani-Kayode and for her trial to be transferred from Lagos to Abuja for convenience.

Yesterday, Usman’s counsel,  Mr Abiodun Owonikoko, SAN, prayed the court to consider the former minister’s application to travel for medical reasons.

“If she collapses, will this case go on? She had undergone surgery and had a relapse. Doctors at the National Hospital have recommended that she needs to get urgent medical treatment abroad,” Owonikoko said.

“This is a matter as serious as breast cancer. We are all humans and can fall sick,” he said.

But, EFCC’s lawyer, Rotimi Oyedepo, said Usman’s application for leave to travel cannot be heard since there were applications challenging the court’s jurisdiction.

He said the issue of jurisdiction ought to be determined first before all other applications were heard.

Ruling, Justice Hassan agreed with the prosecution’s submissions.

The court held that since the defendants have applications on jurisdiction with regards to where they should be tried, as well as on fair hearing, those applications ought to be determined first.

Justice Hassan adjourned until March 1 for hearing of all pending applications.