From Bamigbola Gbolagunte, Akure
For the second consecutive time, a former member of the Action Alliance (AA), Kenneth Udeze, who is standing trial before an Osun State Magistrate Court over allegations of forgery and impersonation was on Wednesday absent in court.
Udeze had through his counsel told the court at the last hearing of the case before Magistrate Bola Ajanaku that he was sick, hence his absence from the Court.
When the matter came up for hearing on Wednesday again, his counsel told the court that his client could not make it from Abuja, because he had another matter at the Court of Appeal, Abuja the previous day.
However, one of the defendants in the case, Mr Bunmi Ogunmodede was present in court, while another defendant, James Vernibe was equally absent and no reason was given for his absence.
The Principal witness in the case, Dr Adekunle Rufai Omoaje who is the national chairman of the Action Alliance was however present in court, despite attending the Court of Appeal, Abuja where Udeze claimed to have gone the previous day.
The trio of Udeze, Vernibe and Ogunmodede had been standing trial before the court for alleged impersonation and forgery since 2018.
The three defendants had in 2020 been arraigned before the court, just as they had earlier been remanded at Ilesa correctional centre.
They were accused of replacing the name of the governorship candidate of the party in Osun State in the 2018 governorship election, Hon Adekunle Rufai Omoaje with that of another person.