A mild drama ensued at a Federal High Court in Abuja today for the trial of Senator Stella Oduah for alleged NYSC certificate forgery, as the counsel prosecuting the case stood for the Nigerian Police Force and not the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The controversy, MUK TV learned, began when the matter was called by the court and the prosecutorial counsel, Ibrahim Mohammed, announced his appearance for the police instead of the EFCC.
Rattled that the prosecutorial counsel is standing for the police and not the EFCC, Justice James Omotoso of the High Court ordered an investigation of the counsel, Mohammed, who had filed an eight-count charge against Senator Oduah.
The court, therefore, is inquiring how the charge sheet, which was filed in June by the EFCC, is being prosecuted by the police.
The judge went further to inquire about who signed the charge, which the prosecutor affirmed.
When Justice Omotosho further probed if he was a police officer, he answered in the affirmative, saying he was seconded to the EFCC but had been deployed back to the Police Force in November 2022.
He added that he resumed at the Legal Department of the Police Headquarters in January 2023.
The court further inquired about how the charge was filed in June 2023 by the EFCC but is being prosecuted by the police.
In a brief ruling, Justice Omotoso ordered the prosecution counsel to report to the EFFC forthwith for an investigation, asking the anti-graft agency to revert to the court.
The case was, therefore, adjourned to July 18 to enable the EFCC to conclude its investigation and report to the court.
Stella Oduah was expected to be arraigned before the court on an eight-count charge bordering on alleged duplicity bordering on her National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificate and allegedly receiving money fraudulently from the Federal Government.
