Sokoto
commissioner loses appeal against EFCC
The Court of Appeal, Sokoto Division, on Tuesday dismissed
two appeals entered by Mohammed Abubakar against the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission, EFCC.
The appeals
were in respect of rulings delivered by the Federal High Court Sokoto presided
by Justice R. Aikawa for the admissibility of some documents presented by
commission in the trial of the appellant.
The
appellant in two separate appeals, had urged the court to set aside the ruling
of the lower court which admitted some documents presented by the EFCC. But the
appeal court ruled that it will not entertain any further interlocutory appeals
until the matter is determined by the lower court.
The
appellant who is currently a
Commissioner for Lands and Housing in Sokoto State, was arraigned by the
Commission on April 7, 2014 alongside his brother, Abdullahi Abubakar, and
three companies before Justice Aikawa for alleged abuse of office while he was
permanent secretary, Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs. The
second defendant was a director in the same ministry in the administration of
the former governor, Aliyu Wamako.
The
companies charged alongside the brothers are, Rose Gallery Nigeria limited,
Silver Spring Global Concept Limited and Sitex Multiservice Limited.
During the
course of trial on January 12,13, and 14, 2016, the prosecuting counsel, Sa’idu
Atteh, through PW1, presented some documents which was objected by counsel
representing the defendants.
After
listening to the arguments by the learned counsel on the admissibility of the
documents, Justice Aikawa adjourned the
matter for ruling which was delivered on March 10, 2016 with some documents
admitted while others were rejected.
The first
defendant being dissatisfied with the ruling, approached the court of appeal,
Sokoto division, seeking for an order setting aside the ruling of the lower
court.
In a ruling
delivered by Justice Usaini Mukhtar, leading Justices Mohammed Shuaibu and
Fredrick Oho, both appeals were dismissed and the appellant ordered to go back
to the lower court for trial.
“If either
party is not satisfied with final verdict of the lower court, it should then
approach the court of appeal and make an appeal once and for all”, the court
ruled.
The court
relied upon Rule 4 (e) of the Practice Direction of the Court of Appeal
(Fast Track) 2014, which discourages interlocutory appeals until the
final verdict has been delivered by the trial court.
This is the
second of many attempts by the appellant to frustrate his trial. It would be
recalled that on May 2, 2017, Justice Idrissa Kolo of the Federal High Court
Sokoto granted the Attorney General of Sokoto State permission to take over the
prosecution of the matter based on a fiat purportedly from the Honourable
Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami.
The fiat was
later countered by a letter dated May 5, 2017 from the Director of Public
Prosecution of the Federation which said that the Attorney General of Sokoto
State has no power to take over the matter.
However,
after the prosecution had received the letter from the DPPF, it approached the
Chief Judge of the Federal High Court to allow Justice Aikawa who had been transferred to Lagos Division of
the Federal High Court to continue with the matter.
The request
was granted by the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court
Source: (
Premium Times )
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