AJUDUA WITHDRAWS SUPREME COURT MOTION, ASKS LOWER COURT TO RULE ON BAIL APPLICATION
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Agency Report
The ongoing trial of socialite Fred Ajudua before Justice M.A. Dada of the Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos, resumed on Friday, October 10, 2025, with the defendant announcing the withdrawal of a motion previously filed before the Supreme Court.
Ajudua, who is being prosecuted for allegedly defrauding a Palestinian, Zad Abu Zalaf, of $1,043,000 (One Million, Forty-Three Thousand Dollars) under false pretences, informed the court that he had filed a notice to discontinue the motion at the apex court to enable the lower court to deliver its ruling on his pending bail application.
The case, which began in 2005 before Justice M.O. Obadina of the Lagos State High Court, has experienced multiple delays due to various legal applications filed by the defendant. It was later reassigned to Justice J.E. Oyefeso and eventually to Justice Dada, before whom Ajudua was re-arraigned on June 4, 2018.
At Friday’s proceedings, Ajudua’s counsel, Olalekan Ojo (SAN), told the court that the notice of withdrawal was filed at the Supreme Court on August 22, 2025, having initially been submitted on June 24, 2025.
“We decided to withdraw the motion we filed at the Supreme Court to allow this Honourable Court to deliver its ruling on the bail application,” Ojo stated, while tendering an affidavit and a copy of the withdrawal notice before the court.
He explained that although his client is battling chronic kidney disease and severe hypertension, Ajudua insisted on attending court to comply with his legal obligations. He, therefore, urged the court to proceed with its ruling on the bail application initially fixed for July 3, 2025, but delayed by the Supreme Court motion.
Responding, prosecution counsel Seidu Atteh argued that the court should wait for a formal acknowledgment from the Supreme Court before proceeding.
“When you file a motion before the court, it is given a number. The applicant has the right to withdraw, but they must wait for a Supreme Court ruling,” Atteh stated, adding that the prosecution had already filed a counter-affidavit and written address on September 26, 2025.
The court also took the cross-examination of the third prosecution witness, Afanda Bashir Emmanuel, an investigator with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Emmanuel testified that he first met Ajudua in 2005, shortly after the EFCC was established, and that the defendant’s case file was transferred from the Nigeria Police Force’s Special Fraud Unit (SFU) to the Commission’s Advance Fee Fraud Section.
He explained that the EFCC contacted several institutions, including the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), and the Commission’s forensic laboratory, during its investigation.
The witness confirmed that he interviewed the complainant, Zad Abu Zalaf, and another individual, Michel Opkema, as part of the inquiry. He also said he visited Ajudua at the Kirikiri Maximum Security Prison, where the defendant’s earlier statements to the Police were incorporated into the EFCC’s investigation report.
The case was adjourned till October 31, 2025, for continuation of trial.
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