The scheduled arraignment of the former head of the Nigeria Intelligence Agency, Ayodele Oke, and his wife, Folashade, on Friday could not go on as the defendants failed to present themselves to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

An EFCC prosecutor told journalists the commission would issue a statement shortly about the development.

The couple had been scheduled to be arraigned before a federal court in Lagos on a four-count charge of money laundering running into millions of dollars.

A source within the EFCC told PREMIUM TIMES on Thursday that they had been waiting for Mr Oke and his wife to report to the agency’s Lagos office but without success.

Mr Oke was removed from office in October 2017 after millions of dollars belonging to the NIA were found in an apartment in Lagos.

In count one of the charges filed by the EFCC, the couple were accused of hiding $43 million belonging to the federal government in an apartment in Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos.

The second count stated that the couple indirectly used $1.6 million of government money to acquire an apartment in Osborne Towers, Ikoyi.

The government listed 13 witnesses including those who would give evidence of how they received almost $300 million from the Central Bank of Nigeria and delivered to Mr Oke.