Justice Mojisola Dada of the Special Offences Court, sitting in Ikeja, Lagos, on Wednesday declined a fresh bail application brought by alleged fraudster Fred Ajudua, citing pending appeals before the Supreme Court.
Ajudua is standing trial for allegedly defrauding a Palestinian businessman, Zad Abu Zalaf, of $1,043,000 under false pretences. He is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The Supreme Court, on May 5, 2025, had earlier revoked the bail granted to Ajudua by the Court of Appeal and upheld Justice Dada’s initial ruling which denied him bail.
At Wednesday’s proceedings, Ajudua appeared in court with medical personnel from the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LUTH). His defence counsel pleaded with the court to consider his chronic kidney condition and grant him bail pending the conclusion of his trial.
However, EFCC counsel opposed the application, urging the court to await the outcome of the Supreme Court’s review.
Ruling on the matter, Justice Dada said:
“In view of the applications filed at the Supreme Court, I am constrained to make any decision with respect to this instant application filed by the defence counsel. I will abide by the decisions of the Supreme Court.”
The court subsequently adjourned the case to October 10, October 31, and November 20 for continuation of trial.
Meanwhile, the prosecution called its third witness, EFCC operative Afanda Emmanuel, who narrated how the case was transferred to the anti-graft agency by the Nigeria Police Special Fraud Unit (SFU) in 2005.
“Sometimes in 2011, I was directed by the team head to study the file. In it, I found a letter previously written by the Nigeria Police Force to the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC),” Emmanuel said.
The defence team raised objections to the admissibility of certain documents the EFCC sought to tender, arguing that they were mere photocopies and not certified true copies of public documents. They also contended that the EFCC was not the originator of the documents and had failed to lay the proper foundation for their admission.
Justice Dada sustained the objection in part, rejecting two of the documents while admitting two others into evidence.
The matter, which has dragged on since 2005 when it was first assigned to Justice Morenike Obadina, has witnessed numerous delays and reassignments. It was later transferred to Justice Josephine Oyefeso and then to the current trial judge, Justice Dada, under whom Ajudua was finally arraigned on June 4, 2018.
The case will continue with the cross-examination of the prosecution witness on the next adjourned date.
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