Justice Muslim Hassan of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, on Wednesday, May 9, 2018, dismissed an application filed by a Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) chieftain, Olanrewaju Otiti, to travel to the United States of America, USA, for medical check. .
Otiti is facing trial alongside Jumoke Akinjide, a former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, and Senator Ayo Adeseun on an amended 24-count charge bordering on money laundering to the tune of N650m.
They were alleged to have received the money from a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Allison- Madueke, in the build-up to the 2015 general elections.
The money was part of the $115m allegedly disbursed by Allison-Madueke to influence the outcome of the 2015 presidential election.
At the last adjourned sitting, Otiti, who is the third defendant, had, in the application, claimed that she was in the US attending to her health when the EFCC invited her to its office in connection with the alleged fraud.
Otiti, through her lawyer, Akinola Oladeji, had also claimed that she left the US to honour the EFCC invitation. .
Consequently, Otiti had prayed the court to release her international passport in order to enable her travel to the US for the medicals.
The judge, however, deferred ruling in the application till today. .
In her ruling today , Justice Hassan said that after a careful study of Otiti’s international passport, he could not find any proof that she ( Otiti) travelled to the US at the time she claimed to have received the EFCC invitation. .
The judge further held that the accompanying email address in her application did not show that the hospital, where she plans to go for treatment, is located in Texas, US, contrary to her claim.
“There are good hospitals in Nigeria, where you can go to for treatment, ” the judge further held. .
The judge, therefore, dismissed the application for lack of merit.
