The suit instituted by the EFCC against the former governor of Oyo State, Adebayo Alao-Akala, and two others, was stalled again on Monday at the Oyo State High Court, Ibadan.
The counsel to the prosecution, Godwin Obla, had filed a fresh notice of preliminary objection and counter affidavit to the motion of the defence seeking to quash the charge against the accused persons.
But the defence counsel, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), prayed the court to grant him more time to study and respond to the fresh processes filed by Obla only minutes before the court session began.
In the motion, Fagbemi argued that the charge against the accused persons did not disclose any offence known to law, adding that it was fundamentally bad.
Justice Akintunde Boade granted the prayer of the defence counsel and adjourned the case till April 26.
Speaking to newsmen after the court session, Fagbemi said it would take only a magician to respond immediately to the two processes filed in the early hours of the trial day.
“It was only in court this morning that we were served with two processes at about a quarter to nine shortly before the court sat.
“One of the processes was a preliminary objection to our motion that has been filed as far back as Dec. 22, 2011 and served on the prosecution.
“The other one was a counter affidavit to our application to quash, and of course it takes a magician to respond immediately,” Fagbemi said.
He argued that since the matter concerned the life and liberty of the accused persons, there was no need to rush and sacrifice justice on the altar of speed.
“In any event, if you are talking of speed, we are not in any way guilty of delay.
“We did all that we are required to do and that was why we sought for time to respond effectively to the processes,” he added.
In his reaction, Obla said the motion of the defence to strike out the charge was incompetent.
He said he had submitted additional proof of evidence in addition to the two processes, adding:
“We are optimistic that the application of the prosecution to quash the charge will go nowhere.”?