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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has asked a federal high court to dismiss a motion filed by former Minister of State for Finance, Nenadi Usman, seeking the imprisonment of Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, over alleged contempt.
Usman’s lawyer, Fedinand Orbih, said the inclusion of his client’s name on the “looters list” released by Mohammed was contemptuous. But EFCC lawyer, Rotimi Oyedepo, said the motion was an abuse of court process.
Oyedepo said Mohammed did not refer to her as a looter.
He said: “The minister of information is not a party to the criminal proceedings against the applicant; there is no evidence to show that the alleged contemnor works with the various media houses that published the alleged offensive publication.
“Besides, there were no allegations against the media houses that published the alleged offensive publication.
“There was nothing that connected the Ministry of Information to the motion which was taken out to annoy the prosecution; the motion is lacking in substance, it is an abuse of court process and should be dismissed.”
Justice Mohammed Aikawa reserved his ruling on the motion until November 16.
The former minister was arraigned for money laundering charges and is standing trial with Former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani -Kayode and former chairman of Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), Yusuf Danjuma.
In April, Lai Mohammed listed Usman among a 23-man looters list over an alleged N1.5 billion loot.