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Ex-Gov Turaki re-arraigned, remanded in Kuje Prison

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Ex-Gov Turaki re-arraigned, remanded in Kuje Prison

Five days after securing bail, former Jigawa State governor, Saminu Turaki, was on Tuesday re-arraigned in court and ordered to be remanded in Kuje Prison.

A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Maitama, Abuja, presided over by Justice Yusuf Halilu, had last Thursday granted Turaki bail on the conditions that he submits his travel documents to the registry of the court, produce “two reasonable sureties” residing in Abuja, and signed a register to be opened at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s (EFCC ’s) office every two weeks.

But the EFCC apparently not pleased with the ruling, denied releasing the former governor and headed to a Federal High Court, Abuja with the same set of charges already pending against the defendants before the court in Dutse.

The commission thereafter re-arraigned him and three companies on Tuesday, before Justice Nnamdi Dimgba in Abuja.

Justice Dimgba is presently the only judge sitting as a vacation judge in the northern region as other Federal High Court judges are on vacation.

Dimgba in his ruling on the matter granted Turaki bail on fresh conditions and ordered that he should be kept back in Kuje Prisons, Abuja, until he was able to meet the bail conditions.

Turaki and the three companies, INC Natural Resources Ltd., Arkel Construction Nigeria Ltd and Wildcat Construction Ltd are being prosecuted by the EFCC on alleged 32 counts of money laundering offences involving about N37 billion.

The defendants were said to have committed the offences between 2006 and 2007, when Turaki was Jigawa State governor.

Read also: Ex-Jigawa gov, Turaki, gets bail, to report in EFCC office every 2 weeks

They were earlier arraigned before the Dutse, Jigawa State Division of the Federal High Court, in 2011.

The EFCC claimed that he has since then been evading trial until his eventual arrest on July 4, 2017, at an event in Abuja following an arrest warrant issued against Turaki by the court in Dutse about three years ago.

Earlier in court on Tuesday, Turaki pleaded not guilty to the 32 counts levelled against him.

Justice Dimgba in his ruling said he was inclined to granting bail to Turaki “in deference” to the earlier bail granted him by Justice Halilu of the FCT High Court.

 

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