Court grants Adoke permission to travel abroad

A Federal High Court in Abuja has granted permission to former Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke to travel for a medical check-up in the United Arab Emirate (UAE).

In a ruling on Friday, Justice Inyang Ekwo, discountenanced the objection raised by a lawyer to the prosecution, Bala Sanga, and granted Adoke’s application as argued by another former AGF, Kanu Agabi (SAN).

Justice Ekwo said the issue of whether or not to grant such an application was within the court’s discretion, which he was inclined to exercise in favour of the applicant because he claimed to be travelling on medical grounds.

The judge proceeded to order the release of the ex-AGF’s international passport to enable him to travel from December 15 this year and return on January 10, a day before the scheduled resumption of trial in the money laundering charge involving him and a businessman, Aliyu Abubakar.

He ordered Adoke to return the international passport to the court with two days of his return for the foreign trip.

Adoke and Abubakar are being tried by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a 14-count charge of money laundering, which is scheduled to resume on January 11 next year.