The arraignment of the former governor of Kebbi State, Usman Saidu Dakingari alongside three others before the Federal High Court sitting in Kebbi could not go on today, June 20th, 2018 following the failure of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd defendants to appear in court.
Others charged alongside Dakingari are Garba Rabiu Kamba, Sunday Dogonyaro and Abdullahi Yelwa.
The prosecution was given today by the court to assemble the defendants before it for arraignment but repeated evasion of service by the 1st, 2nd and 3rd defendants stalls that process.
The 4th defendant, Garba Rabiu Kamba, however reported to the Commission’s Kano Office on invitation by the and was accordingly brought to court with the expectation that the other defendants would eventually show up since they were put on notice about the charge against them.
The defendants allegedly conspired and received the cash sum of N700, 000,000 (Seven Hundred Million Naira Only) being part of the $115,000,000 allegedly distributed by the former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Deizani Allison Madueke for the purpose of influencing the 2015 general election.
The money were said to have been warehoused in a new generation bank where the defendants allegedly collected same in cash and distributed among themselves thereby violating the provision of section 1(a) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act, 2011 (as amended).
When the case came up today, prosecution counsel Johnson Ojogbane informed the court that the prosecution has made several attempts to serve the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd defendants but they persistently refused to be served.
Ojogbane then requested the court through a motion experte, relying on Section 382(5) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 to allow the prosecution serve the defendants through either their counsels, sureties, an adult member of their household or on their last known address.
Justice Amobeda Simone granted the application of the prosecution as prayed and ordered that the defendants be served within 48 hours through any of their counsels, sureties, an adult member of their household or on their last known address.
On the issue of the 4th defendant, the court allowed him to go home to report himself to court on the next adjourned date.
The case has been adjourned to the 25th June, 2018 for arraignment.
