Again, Mohammed Abacha Not in Court to Plea to New Charges

The trial of Mohammed, son of the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha, for unlawfully receiving about N446.3 billion allegedly stolen from government's coffers between 1995 and 1998, was again stalled yesterday as he failed to appear in court on the grounds of ill health.

Mohammed was to be arraigned before Justice Mamman Kolo of an Abuja High Court on a nine-count charge. The case was adjourned until yesterday to enable him plea to the charge.

When the case was called yesterday, his counsel, Mr. Reuben Atabo, told the court that his client received the hearing notice and that he was ready to clear his name but he took ill and was unable to come to the court. He therefore asked for an adjournment.

Atabo said: "My Lord, we wish to inform the court that about four days ago, the accused took ill and he was rushed to a hospital. "The accused absence today (yesterday) is neither deliberate nor an attempt to run away from his trial. "The accused was diagnosed with blood pressure and severe chest pain. Doctors have prescribed some drugs for him and recommended two weeks bed rest."

Atabo submitted a medical report in support of his oral application for adjournment. He further urged the court to fix another date to enable his client attend to his trial. However, counsel to the federal government, Mr. Daniel Enwelum, said he would reluctantly concede to the oral application for adjournment since it was a medical issue.

Justice Kolo said although he was reluctant to allow another adjournment, he agreed to it because it had to do with Mohammed's health. He adjourned the case until June 18 for arraignment.

At the last hearing of the case, the counsel, who represented Abacha, Mr. Abdullahi Haruna,

had told the court that he got to know about the arraignment "by accident".

"My Lord, we are not aware of this arraignment because we were not served with hearing notice, charge sheet and witness statements on oath," he said.

The federal government had last month filed a new charge against Mohammed, accusing him of unlawfully receiving about N446.3billion allegedly stolen from government's coffers between 1995 and 1998.

In the nine-count charge, the federal government accused Mohammed of "dishonestly receiving stolen property" and "voluntarily assisted in concealing money."

The charge replaced the earlier one of 121 counts in which Mohammed was charged with Atiku Bagudu.

The government has now excluded Bagudu from the fresh charge, leaving only Mohammed.

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