An Abuja High Court judge, Justice Danlami Senchi, has withdrawn from the trial of Victoria Adelana, a civil engineer who is standing trial for a N5 million fraud.

According to a statement from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Friday, Justice Senchi accused the defendant of embarrassing him with several calls, “asking for help” in the matter.

Adelana, who is accused of defrauding one Chinenye Ike in a land scam, was arraigned in May 2016 and pleaded “not guilty” to the charge.

She was said to have jumped bail and had to be declared wanted before she was arrested by EFCC operatives on February 10 and brought to court to face trial.

Justice Senchi had revoked the bail earlier granted the defendant and ordered that she be remanded in Suleja Prison.

The trial continued on February 20 with prosecuting counsel Diane Nkwap calling her first witness, Frank Kamalu, who explained how the defendant collected the money to buy a plot of land at Maitama EXTENSION II in Abuja, which turned out to be a land scam.

At the resumed sitting, Justice Senchi who was to give a ruling on bail and a “no-case” submission by the defence informed both prosecution and defence in open court that he felt embarrassed by the recent development, in which the defendant had literally been harassing him with several calls.

In view of the development, the trial judge excused himself from the case and ordered that the case file be returned to the Chief Judge of the FCT for reassignment.

Adelana was also ordered to be remanded in prison custody pending the reassignment of the case.