Court discharges,acquits Jigawa ex-gov, Turaki, over alleged N8.3b fraud

A federal High Court sitting in Dutse, Jigawa State, has discharged and acquitted a former governor, Ibrahim Saminu Turaki, of the N8.3 billion corruption charges preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Turaki and three other companies had been standing trial, since May 4, 2007, in a suit filed by the EFCC on a 33-count charge.

The former governor was arraigned before Justice Binta Murtala Nyako of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court on July 13, 2007.

In 2011, the case was transferred to the Federal High Court, Dutse, after Turaki challenged the jurisdiction of the FCT division of the court.

A new judge, Justice Hassan Dikko, was reassigned to take over the case, which was formerly being handled by Justice S. Yahuza who retired in December.

Dikko, who delivered the ruling, struck out all the charges and discharged all the accused persons for want of diligent prosecution.

The court further ordered that the travel documents of the 1st accused, Turaki, be released to him with immediate effect.

Reacting to judgment, Saidu Muhammad Tudun Wada, one of the defense lawyers, said the court found merit in their application for the discharge of the accused persons, added that with the ruling, justice has been served.