False information: Court adjourns Melaye’s case indefinitely on health grounds

Justice Olasumbo Goodluck of FCT High Court, Maitama, on Thursday adjourned indefinitely the trial of Senator Dino Melaye, docked for allegedly giving false information.
Melaye , representing Kogi West, was dragged to court on a two-count charge, bordering on giving false information, offences he denied committing.
The judge, on Wednesday, adjourned until May 17, and ordered the defence counsel to take appropriate steps to explain the absence of the defendant in court.
Goodluck, in her ruling on Thursday, on a motion for adjournment by Mr Ricky Tarfa (SAN), Melaye’s counsel, held that the prosecution did not doubt the health problem of the senator.
“From the gamut of the entire facts placed before the court, the prosecution did not controvert the fact that the defendant was in the National Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU).’’
The judge, therefore, adjourned the case sine die (indefinitely) pending the recovery of the senator from his sickness.
Earlier, Tarfa, in an application to justify the absence of the senator, informed the court that his client was still lying critically ill at the National Hospital.
He tendered a medical report, signed by one Dr Olaniran, Director of Medical Services at the National Hospital, Abuja, which confirmed that the senator was being managed at the Intensive Care Unit.
Tarfa urged the judge to consider the ill health of the lawmaker as a special circumstance that warranted his absence from trial.
He urged the court to adjourn the trial pending the time his client would recuperate from the sickness, and be able to stand before the court to answer the two-count criminal charge against him.
Responding, the prosecuting counsel, Mr Magaji Labaran, urged the court to discountenance the exhibits attached to the defendant’s affidavit, as they did not meet the requirements of the Law.
He added that the elements in the medical reports did not indicate that the defendant cannot come to court to stand trial.