Justice Suleiman Belgore of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, Garki, on Wednesday fixed June 23 for the arraignment of the Director of Investigation and Prosecution in the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), Joseph Eriki, and 10 others for alleged forgery.
The judge fixed the date after counsel for the defendants, C.S. Ekeocha and E.E. Apeh, promised to produce their clients for arraignment.
Justice Belgore, on May 27, granted a warrant to compel their appearance for arraignment in the charge filed by the Federal Government.
He issued the warrant following the application by the prosecution counsel, David Kasuwe.
Kasuwe had told the court that all efforts to ensure that the suspects were present in court for their arraignment failed.
At the resumed hearing of the case, the defendants were not in court, but their lawyers told the judge that they had not been served with the charge.
He, therefore, prayed for an adjournment to enable him to bring them to court.
The federal government had filed a six-count charge of criminal conspiracy, criminal trespass, forgery, and others against the defendants.
Others charged alongside the FCTA director are Boniface Agwu, Ikechukwu Kanu, Donatec Electrical Company Limited, Super Structure Limited, Weatherfield Engineering, Marine Service Limited, Asher Information Services Limited, Prince Isaac Omoluwa, Nwaimoneye Augustine Onyisi, and Sarajo Aliyu, Ogbole Michael.
The prosecution alleged that the defendants unlawfully entered Plots 461–470 and 486-496 belonging to Etha Ventures and erected structures to defraud the company.
