A Lagos High Court yesterday ordered the arrest of the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon. Adeyemi Ikuforiji, and one of his aides, Oyebode Atoyebi, for allegedly failing to appear to defend charges against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Lawyer to EFCC, Chief Godwin Obla, had filed a 39-count charge against him, which was later reduced to 20.
He was supposed to appear in court yesterday to answer to the allegation of financial recklessness and misappropriation levelled against him by the agency, which investigated him for weeks .
LEADERSHIP WEEKEND also? learnt that after he was contacted on Thursday to appear in court, he promised to show up only to got wind that he might be detained and later refused to show up.
But when the case was mentioned, neither him nor his lawyer was represented in court. Obla? then urged the court to order a bench warrant against him and his aide, claiming that the Speaker was contacted.
Justice James Tosho later ordered a bench warrant to be issued against Ikuforiji and his aide.
The case has been till January 17, 2012,
Meanwhile, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has accused the EFCC of acting unprofessionally and sensationalising the anti-corruption fight by seeking to ambush and embarrass Ikuforiji, over the fraud allegation against him.
In a statement issued in Osogbo, Osun State, on Friday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the EFCC had already invited the media to cover a planned arraignment of the Speaker on Friday, even when he and his lawyers have not been informed of the arraignment.