Abdulsalam Abdulkarim Zaura more popularly known as AA Zaura, the All Progressives Congress (APC) Kano Central senatorial candidate, seems to have perfected his act when it comes to avoiding court summons. He somehow managed to not only emerge victorious in the senatorial primaries despite having a fraud case to answer to, but the case has also continually suffered several adjournments due to the absence of either Zaura or his legal counsel.
This is obviously deliberate on Zaura’s part as he hopes that he may somehow, dribble the law until he ‘wins’ the election and buys himself some form of ‘immunity’ as a Senator. The business tycoon was accused by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC) in 2020 of duping a Kuwaiti national, Jamman Al-Azmi, of $1.3 million under the pretext of procuring real estate for him in Dubai.
The Commission dragged him before a Federal High Court in Kano on a five-count charge. He was found not guilty and discharged on all counts. Dissatisfied with the judgment of the lower court, the EFCC filed an appeal and a unanimous decision by the three-member panel of judges set aside the judgment of the high court and ordered Zaura to be tried afresh by a different judge. The main contention of the appeal was the absence of Zaura when the judgment of the High Court was delivered.
Citing several judgements of the Supreme Court, the panel of judges held that an accused person must always be present in court throughout his trial including judgment, and Zaura was found wanting in this regard. It was on this basis that the court of appeal found merit in the appeal and upheld the same accordingly. But like a man who is past caring, Zaura continued to evade court summons each time the case got adjourned.
Again his re-arraignment earlier billed for October 14, 31 and November 10 2022, could not go ahead following his absence in court, with his lawyer arguing that his client did not have to appear before the court because of an appeal before the Supreme Court against the appellate court’s judgment. Besides, he argued that his client was physically not fit to stand trial. This led the EFCC to declare him wanted and began a hunt to arrest him on sight.
At his next arraignment on January 30, EFCC made good on its promise to arrest him. He was picked up at his residence by operatives of the Commission and brought to the court. However, his counsel was absent, and he had an already made excuse for his absence. Naturally, his arraignment could not go ahead.
Irked by his continued absence for court summons, the EFCC counsel pleaded with the court to proceed with the arraignment citing Section 33 Sub-Section (a) of the constitution to argue that the law allowed a defendant to take his plea even in the absence of the counsel. She also urged the court to take judicial notice of the several adjournments the case had suffered due to the absence of the defendants during previous hearing dates.
Ruling on the application, the judge for the umpteenth time adjourned the case to February 6. An ambitious man, Zaura had his eyes set on occupying Kano government house in 2019 on the platform of The Green Party of Nigeria (GPN). His expectations were however cut short when he lost out in the polls.
He quickly changed strategy and defected to the ruling APC, exactly a year after he was arraigned for fraud, hopefully to find ways to evade the law and unless the court gets a firm grip on him and compel him to answer to the charges, coupled with a tight case by the EFCC, the commission may as well continue on a wild goose chase with him till infinity.
About the Author
