GO AND SIN NO MORE: Court acquits ex-Jigawa governor Turaki of N8.3bn fraud

Former governor of Jigawa State, Saminu Turaki, can now walk around with his head up high as a federal high court in Dutse has discharged and acquitted him of N8.3 billion fraud.

Turaki and three other companies had been standing trial since May 4, 2007, in a suit filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on 33 counts.

They were arraigned before Justice Binta Nyako of an Abuja High Court on July 13, 2007 before the case was moved to the Federal High Court, Dutse, after the former governor 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 before his retirement early in December.

According to Punch, the presiding judge, Justice Hassan Dikko, who delivered the ruling, struck out all charges and discharged all the accused persons for want of diligent prosecution.

The court further ordered that the travel document of the first accused person, Saminu Turaki, be released to him with immediate effect.

Turaki served as the executive governor of Jigawa State for eight years between 1999 and 2007.