Justice Ridwan Aikawa of a Federal High Court in Lagos on Wednesday ordered the arrest of a businessman, Ani Paulinus Onyeka over his failure to appear before him for arraignment for money laundering allegations.
The order for his arrest was sequel to a warrant application against the businessman filed before the court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The anti-graft agency had filed a two count-charge marked FHC/L/161c/2014, against the businessman, over his failure to declare the sum of $1.909,140 million, which he allegedly laundered into Nigeria, from Republic of Congo.
The businessman was first arraigned before Justice Rita Ofli-Ajumogobia, in 2014 before the case was reassigned to Justice Aikawa, following suspension of the former trial judge, who is equally facing trial before an Ikeja High Court.
When the matter came up today, EFCC’s prosecutor, Rotimi Oyedepo, informed the court that the accused person had failed to appear in court since 2014, when he was arraigned before Justice Ajumogobia.
Oyedipo subsequently urged the court to grant the arrest warrant as the defendant failed to voluntarily come to court.
Consequently, the judge granted the arrest warrant application and adjourned the matter till November 2.