By ABDULWAHAB ABDULAH & ONOZURE DANIA
IKEJA — Justice Habeeb Abiru of an Ikeja High Court, Lagos, yesterday, struck out the charges of stealing of The Daily Times of Nigeria Plc. property preferred against Fidelis Anosike and his brother, Noel, on the ground that prosecution was not forthcoming with its case.

Fidelis and Noel are directors of Folio Communications, and were standing trial over alleged  stealing of N1.7 billion belonging to The Daily Times of Nigeria Plc.

At the resumed hearing in  the case, the state prosecutor from the office of the Director of Public Prosecution, DPP, who recently took over the matter from the Federal Ministry of Justice, asked the court to grant another  adjournment for two weeks for them to conclude studying the case file recently transferred to them.

At the hearing on March 27, 2012,  the  prosecution had requested for a month adjournment to enable it study the case file which then was just transferred to the DPP by the Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Mohammed Adoke, SAN.

The lawyer said there were some information needed to enable them effectively prosecute the case.

However, Mr. Babajide Koku, SAN, counsel to the Anosikes, objected to the request for adjournment, praying the court to instead strike out the charges against his clients as the prosecutor was not ready to prosecute the case.

He said: “It appeared they are not ready to prosecute the case, otherwise they would not be asking for another adjournment. The court gave them one month the other time and that should be enough to study the file. When they are ready, they can come back to the court. But for now, we urge the court  to strike out the case.”

Hinging his ruling on the argument canvassed by the defence, the court observed that the prosecution had no cogent reason for the adjournment being requested.

Justice Abiru said for an adjournment to be granted in a criminal trial, the reason for it must be cogent enough.

He said: “If your home is not tidy, why should the people outside be made to suffer. It is not the number of times you appear in court that matters but how you used the adjournments. I gave you one month the last time and you are asking for more time.”

Justice Abiru discharged the Anosike brothers sof the charges and struck out the case.

He said, however, that the prosecutor could come back to the court when it was ready to prosecute the case.