After spending 14 days cooling his heels in EFCC’s coop in Abuja, Femi Fani-Kayode will be spending 21 days more with the anti-graft agency in Lagos.
An application the commission brought before a magistrate court at Ikeja May 23 to further detain the former aviation minister and PDP campaign media manager in 2015 was granted around 2 pm Monday.
Fani-Kayode, who has been claiming to be a core born-again Christian now, was invited two weeks ago for interrogation in the EFCC Abuja office.
He was alleged to have creamed off N840 million out of the N2.3 billion the campaign organisation received from ex-NSA Samno Dauki to fund the party campaign.
Dasuki was said to have shunted part of the $2.1 billion meant for arms purchase to the then ruling party campaign organisation.
Although Fani-Kayode had been aware the commission was following his paper trail of the stolen fund, he didn’t know there were other corruption allegations he would be confronted with.
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He has to account for about N1.5 billion all together.
EFCC’s counsel A.N. Anana told the court the application for an order of remand dated May 10, 2016 was brought before the court pursuant to Section 261 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law (ACJL) of 2011 of Lagos, pending when he will be properly arraigned at the appropriate court.
Opposing the motion, Fani-Kayode’s lawyer Wole Balohun prayed the court to dismiss the application because detaining his client violates the suspect’s fundamental human rights.
According to him, the anti-graft agency had received the same order of remand for 14 days before an Abuja Chief Magistrate Court.After it expired, they brought his client to Lagos for the same matter.
“We are asking the court that the defendant cannot be remanded in the lieu of the fact that the matter is pending before a High Court on the same subject, under the Criminal Justice Act of Lagos,” he said. “It is a breach of the constitution. They granted him bail but refused to release him.”
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In her ruling, Chief Magistraate Bola Osunsanmu said the defence lawyer couldn’t tender any proof his client had been charged before any court with the allegation.
She then ordered Fani-Kayode to be remanded in EFCC’s custody for 21 days before his arraignment.
This is the second time in three years Fani-Kayode and the anti0corruption agency will be having legal crackers. He weaselled out of the 2014 corruptions charges the agency preferred against when he was aviation minister.
Shortly after his victory, Fani-Kayode, one of the early birds in the APC newly minted then, hopped out, and joined his former party PDP which he had been criticising before then.
Former President Goodluck Jonathan then appointed him as the media and publicity manager of the PDP presidential campaign organisation how neck-deep in corruption allegations.