A Federal High Court sitting on Thursday in Dutse, Jigawa State discharged and acquitted, a former governor of the state, Ibrahim Saminu Turaki of N8.3 billion corruption charges in a suit filed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The presiding judge, Justice Hassan Dikko, struck out all the charges and discharged all the defendants due to want of diligent prosecution.
The Court also ordered that Turaki’s travel documents should be released to him with immediate effect.
Since May 4, 2007, Turaki and 3 companies have been standing trial over 33-count charges bordering on diversification and misappropriation of state funds.
On July 13, 2007, Turaki was arraigned before Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court but in 2011 the case was transferred to the Federal High Court, Dutse after the governor’s lawyers challenged the jurisdiction of the FCT High Court.
