Breaking! Amaju Pinnick, 4 Others To Appear In Court July 1

Breaking! Amaju Pinnick, 4 Others To Appear In Court July 1 By Uju Pascal Justice Ifeoma Ojukwu has on Tuesday 28th May, 2019 granted the prayer of the Special Presidential Investigative Panel on Recovery of Public Property (SPIP) to arraign Nigeria Football Federation President, Amaju Pinnick, 1st vice-president, Seyi Akinwunmi, 2nd vice president, Shehu Dikko, Secretary General, Dr Mohammed Sanusi and NFF Board member, Ahmed Yusuf Fresh on July 1st, 2019, bsnsports.com.ng can report. The Federal High Court of Justice, Abuja also granted that the defendants can be served by substituted. This means, that the five accused persons can be served at their residents, offices or the court process be pasted in either places. SPIP has claimed that Amaju Pinnick and four other NFF top officials have been evading service on several occasions which led to granting of service by substitution pronounced by the Federal High Court. Special Presidential Investigative Panel (SPIP) lead counsel, Dr. Celsus Ukpong who spoke with www.bsnsports.com.ng after the court process said: "The case (FG Vs NFF) came up for arraignment and plea but the defendants were not in court because they were evading service. So, we applied to the court to give us substituted service. That means we are going to serve them through substituted means and the case has been adjourned to July 1st, 2019 for arraignment. "On July 1st, we are expecting the accused persons to be in court and take their pleas." The Federal Government had on 7th May charged the President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Amaju Pinnick and four others with alleged misappropriation of $8,400 belonging to the football body. In a 17-count charge, marked FHC/ABJ/CR/93/2019, filed before the Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday, the money was said to have been paid by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) to the NFF as appearance fees in the group state of the Russia 2018 World Cup. The defendants were also accused of “moving dishonestly and intentionally the sum of about N4bn” belonging to the NFF without the consent of the NFF. The five are also accused, in the charge filed by the Special Presidential Investigation Panel for the Recovery of Public Property (SPIP), led by Okoi Obono-Obla, of failing and neglecting to declare their assets.