A Rivers State High Court sitting in Port Harcourt has issued a bench warrant for the arrest of former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi; governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the State in the 2023 elections, Tonye Cole; and a former Commissioner for Energy, Augustine Wokocha, over failure to appear in court to take their plea.
The trial judge, Justice Chiwendu Nwogu, also issued a bench warrant on Chamberlain Peterside, Sahara Energy Resources Limited, NG Powers-HPS Limited, and Cenpropsaroten Management Limited.
The Court issued the warrant on Wednesday at the commencement of hearing of the fresh criminal suit on the misappropriation of public funds of about $50m filed against Amaechi, Wokocha and Cole by the Governor Nyesom Wike administration.
The Rivers State government withdrew its earlier suit on the alleged misappropriation.
While counsels for the defendants unanimously informed the court of their motion on non-service-of-court processes, the judge insisted on issuing the bench warrant and further adjourned to July 5, 2023, for hearing on the matter.