By Innocent Anaba

LAGOS—One of the sureties who stood for the bail granted to former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode in the money laundering case against him before a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, has applied to withdraw his suretyship. Fani-Kayode, former Minister of Aviation is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, over alleged money laundering offences.

The surety, Wale Ajisebutu, according to court papers, had made an application to Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia, trial judge in the matter, to withdraw from being a surety to Fani-Kayode. The surety had hinged his application on the ground that he urgently need to make use of the Certificate of Occupancy, CofO, he deposited to the court to secure Fani-Kayode’s bail after his arraignment for the money laundering crime.

The application was initially scheduled for hearing on Tuesday, but the defence wrote a letter asking for another date. The matter was subsequently adjourned to March 26 for hearing of the application and continuation of trial. At the last adjourned date, Fani-Kayode’s first defence witness, Kola Olapoju, had admitted that the transactions that led to the trial were “unusual and exceptional.”