Alleged N1.9bn Fraud: Court Orders Trial Of Ex-Niger Gov Aliyu To Continue
The Federal High Court, Abuja, on Monday, ordered the resumption of trial in the N1.9 billion money laundering charge against former Governor of Niger, Babangida Aliyu.
Delivering judgment, Justice Inyang Ekwo, dismissed an administrative directive that okayed the trial of Aliyu, which started in 2017, to start de-novo (fresh).
The ex-governor is facing an eight count money laundering charge alongside his former Chief of Staff and governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, Umar Nasko, filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Ekwo held that former Chief Judge (CJ) of the Court, Justice Abdul Abdul-Kafarati, acted in breach of Section 98(2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015, when he re-assigned the case-file to a new judge for a fresh trial, after EFCC had called 10 witnesses in the matter and tendered several exhibits in evidence.
The judge noted that EFCC only had four pending witnesses to conclude its case before the matter was handed to a new trial judge.
NAN reports that the defendants were accused of diverting ecological funds of the Federal Government released to Niger State in 2014, to the tune of about N1.940 billion.
Though they were initially arraigned in Abuja before Justice Nnamdi Dimgba in 2017, however, following an application by the defendants, the case was transferred to the Minna Division of the Federal High Court.
Following the transfer of the case to Niger State, it was assigned to Justice Yellim Bogoro by the then CJ and the defendants were arraigned afresh and released on bail on Nov. 16, 2017.
However, midway into their trial, the CJ, in June 2019, ordered Justice Bogoro to hands-off the case.
The CJ subsequently transferred the case to Justice Aliyu Bappa for the trial to begin afresh, citing a petition that was brought to him by the EFCC.
Dissatisfied with the CJ’s decision, the former governor filed a suit to challenge it, insisting that the aim was to unnecessarily prolong his trial.
In the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/620/2020, which has the FHC CJ, the EFCC and the Attorney-General of the Federation as 1st to 3rd defendants respectively, Aliyu urged the court to reverse the decision.
