The ongoing corruption trial of former All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, his wife, Dr Hafsat Umar Ganduje, and six others, was on Monday stalled once more at the Kano State High Court.
The Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission (PCACC) had arraigned the former governor, his wife, and six co-defendants on an 11-count charge bordering on bribery, conspiracy, misappropriation, and diversion of public funds amounting to billions of naira.
Other defendants in the case include Abubakar Bawuro, Umar Abdullahi Umar, Jibrilla Muhammad, Lamash Properties Limited, Safari Textiles Limited, and Lasage General Enterprises Limited.
The trial was scheduled to continue with the prosecution presenting its witnesses, however, proceedings were halted when the defendants’ legal representatives informed the court they were not ready to proceed.
Prosecution counsel, Adeola Adedipe (SAN), told Justice Amina Adamu Aliyu that the state was fully prepared to open its case, with witnesses already in court.
But defence counsel for Ganduje, his wife, and son, Lydia Oluwakemi-Oyewo, objected to the continuation, claiming improper service of hearing notice.
Oyewo further filed a motion seeking a stay of proceedings, arguing that the matter was already before the Court of Appeal.
Similarly, other defence counsels, Chief M. N Duru (SAN) for the 3rd defendant, Sunusi Musa (SAN) for the 5th defendant, and Abubakar Ahmad and Abdulrazaq A Ahmed for the 6th and 8th defendants respectively, also filed various applications, including preliminary objections and notices of appeal.
They all requested the court to suspend proceedings pending determination of their motions.
In response, Adedipe urged the court to dismiss the defence applications, accusing the defendants of deliberately delaying the trial.
He proposed that the court should hear both the substantive case and pending motions concurrently, with rulings reserved until the end of the trial.
Justice Aliyu, however, ruled that all preliminary objections must be determined before proceeding with the substantive case.
She declined the request to stay execution, stating there was no sufficient basis to warrant such an order.
The case was adjourned until November 26, 2025, for the hearing of all pending applications.
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