BY OLA AJAYI
IBADAN — ARGUMENTS by counsel  to former Oyo State Governor, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala, that another lawyer could not stand in for the lead prosecution counsel, Chief Godwin Obla, in the N11.5billion fraud against the ex-governor, stalled the trial in Ibadan, Thursday.

Akala, Senator Hosea Agboola, a serving senator and a business man, Femi Babalola, are standing trial before Justice Akintunde Boade, in an Ibadan High Court over  11-count charge of conspiracy, illegal award of contracts, obtaining by false presence, acquiring property with money derived from illegal acts and concealing the ownership of such property by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

At the sitting of the court, yesterday, a counsel, Otunba Olayinka Bolanle, announced his appearance for the prosecution counsel and stated the reason why the lead counsel was not in court. According to him, the lead counsel, Obla, was not in court because he was in another Lagos high court holding brief on a criminal matter. He then apologised to the court for his absence.

But counsel to the three accused persons, Chief Mohammad Osman, SAN, argued against his appearance and said he should not be heard because he lacked judicial power to appear as a prosecutor in the case. He told the court that the Attorney General of the Federation gave the prosecution counsel, the fiat to prosecute the accused personally and such fiat could not delegated to another person.

Since the prosecution counsel did not appear personally in court, any other person standing in for him should be denied audience by the court. But, Otunba Bolanle argued that he was not entirely new in the case but has been appearing with Chief Obla since the beginning of the case.  To him, since the fiat given to Obla to prosecute the case was not before the court, the issue of exclusivity did not arise.

“It is only when such fiat is before the court that the doctrine of exclusivity can be pronounced”, he argued.

The case was then adjourned to May 4 2012.

Akala, after the sitting of the court granted a short interview of the defection of his former Commissioner for Finance, Chief Adebayo Bankole saying the whole thing revolved round politics.

To him, the reason for the defection was bordered on alleged greed.