Justice Lewis Allagoa of the Federal High Court, sitting in Kano on Monday ruled that a former governor of Kano State and serving senator, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau and two others must answer to charges in the N950,000,000 (Nine Hundred and Fifty Million Naira) fraud allegation, preferred against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
Shekarau was arraigned alongside Aminu Bashir Wali, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Mansur Ahmed on May 24, 2018 for allegedly collecting the said sum from a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Deizani Alison-Madueke for the purpose of influencing the outcome of the 2015 general election.
Upon arraignment, the defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges against them, thereby setting the stage for their trial.
In the course of the trial, the prosecution called four witnesses and closed its case on May 8, 2019. However, the defendants through their counsels responded with a no-case submission, which they moved on July 2, 2019. The matter was then adjourned to September 23, 2019 for ruling on the no-case submission.
In his ruling Monday, Justice Allagoa dismissed the no-case submission and called the defendants to open their defense.
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