BY IKECHUKWU NNOCHIRI

ABUJA-The trial of three principal officers of the Veterinary Council of Nigeria, accused of pilfering about N90million from the coffers of the establishment between 2008 and 2009, suffered a setback yesterday owing to the absence of one of the accused persons in court.

Those answering to a 14-count criminal charge preferred against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, are the incumbent Registrar of the Council, Dr Daniel Maddo, former Director of Finance and Accounts, Dr. Hilary Ibe, and Principal Administrative Officer, Mr. Alexander Abafi, who were listed in the charge-sheet as the 1st to 3rd accused persons respectively.

Their trial was stalled yesterday sequel to the absence of the 2nd accused person in the matter, Ibe, who was said to be very sick.

His counsel, Mr. Cosmas Okpara, informed the trial judge in the matter, Justice Albubakar Thalba, that his client was unavoidably absent due to the fact that he was still recuperating at a specialist hospital where he underwent an eye surgery.

He further tendered a medical report from the said hospital to substantiate the claim, just as he debunked insinuations by the prosecution, who had insisted that the story was a mere ploy aimed at truncating the trial of the accused persons.