Nigeria, Feb. 20 -- The Court of Appeal in Abuja, on Wednesday, ordered Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court in Abuja, to withdraw from the trial of a former governor of Benue State, Gabriel Suswam.

The appellate court in a unanimous judgement on Wednesday ordered that the case file be returned to Justice Ahmed Mohammed, who had presided over the case from the beginning.

Mr Suswam and the then Commissioner for Finance in his administration, Okolobia Okpanachi, are being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on N3.1 billion money laundering charges.

They were accused by the anti-graft agency of diverting the money which was said to be part of the proceeds of the sale of some shares of Benue in a compa...