Nigeria Content Online

A Federal High
Court in Abuja, on Wednesday, adjourned the money laundering trial of
the former governor of Abia State, Orji Uzor Kalu, for six months.

Jack Tilley-Gyado,
counsel to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which
had brought the case against Mr. Kalu, asked the court to adjourn the
trial since the matter was also before the Court of Appeal in Abuja.
The organisation said it wanted its case to wait until the
determination of the appeal. Awa Kalu, counsel to the former governor,
also asked the court to adjourn the matter, but to do so indefinitely.

Mr. Kalu’s lawyer
told the court that there were two more appeals coming from the case,
and that one of those appeals had not even been fixed for a hearing. He
repeated his call for the court to adjourn the case indefinitely so
that his client would not face the possibility of going to trial while
his any of his appeals were pending.

However, in his
ruling, Justice Adamu Bello, noted that in the past he had declined
calls to adjourn Mr. Kalu’s case indefinitely, saying that doing so
would be “tantamount to a stay of proceeding.” He adjourned the case to
November 25, 2010, so that the appellate court would have ample time to
make its decisions and the parties involved could plan their next line
of action.