Ayodele Fayose, a former governor of Ekiti State, was on trial for money laundering on Monday, but the trial was delayed because the trial court was not in session.
The trial, which was scheduled to continue on Monday, was postponed because trial judge Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke was reportedly at a conference.
The parties shall now promptly agree upon a new date.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is bringing charges against the former governor for alleged money laundering and fraud totaling N6.9 billion.
He was charged with 11 counts of potential fraud and money laundering offenses on October 22, 2018, along with his company, Spotless Investment Ltd.
On October 24, 2018, bail was granted to Fayose, who had pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The EFCC had called its eleventh witness, a woman named Mrs. Joanne Tolulope, in December 2021. She described how Abiodun Agbele, a friend of Fayose’s, acquired properties worth millions of dollars.
NAN reports that during the trial before Justice Olatoregun, the prosecution had called witnesses, from several commercial banks, as well as a former Minister of State for Defence, Sen. Musiliu Obanikoro.
According to the charge, on June 17, 2014, Fayose and one Abiodun Agbele were said to have taken possession of the sum of N1.2 billion, for purposes of funding his gubernatorial election campaign in Ekiti, which sum they reasonably ought to have known formed part of crime proceeds.
Fayose was alleged to have received a cash payment of the sum of five million dollars, (about N1.8 billion) from the then Minister of State for Defence, Sen. Musiliu Obanikoro, without going through any financial institution.
He was also said to have retained the sum of N300 million in his account and took control of the aggregate sums of about N622 million.