Nigeria, March 13 -- The Federal High Court in Abuja has fixed 1 April for the commencement of the Supreme Court-ordered retrial of former Jigawa State governor, Sule Lamido, his two sons and others on N1.35 billion money laundering charges.

The case was scheduled for re-arraignment before trial judge Peter Lifu today (Friday) but was stalled because of the absence of the defendants, who were previously freed from the charges by the Court of Appeal.

But defence lawyer Joe Agi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), was present at Friday's proceedings. The prosecution lawyer representing the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Chile Okoroma, also a SAN, was present too.

Explaining his clients' absence, Mr Agi said the hearing ...