Former Governor of Jigawa State, Ibrahim Saminu Turaki, is set to regain his freedom after two courts have ruled against his continued detention by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Turaki had been kept in detention by the EFCC despite meeting the bail conditions stipulated by the courts. This won’t be the first time the EFCC (and indeed the government) will be flouting court orders regarding the bail for suspects. It is rather one of many instances where the Commission under the embattled Acting Chairman, Ibrahim Magu has shown a brazen disregard for court judgement and the Rule of Law.
Saminu Turaki was arrested at a book launch on the 4th of July in Abuja by EFCC operatives on the basis of a warrant of arrest issued four years ago by a Federal High Court in Dutse, Jigawa State. He has been standing trial before the court on a 32-count charge of alleged concealment to the tune of N36 billion during his tenure as governor.
These are weighty allegations that should be followed with diligent prosecution. However, the refusal of the EFCC to observe the court’s last week ruling granting the defendant bail constituted a miscarriage of justice, and cast a dark shadow on the case. Turaki was re-arraigned before another court by the EFCC on July 18th seeking to challenge an earlier court decision to grant the ex-Governor bail but the judge lampooned the EFCC and ruled that Turaki be released, confirming the earlier bail decision by a different judge.
EFCC operatives reportedly showed up at both court hearings with a retinue of print and electronic journalists, and could be seen coordinating the activities of the journalists before and after the hearings with such efforts that it would suggest that the main event for the EFCC was not the trial itself but the media coverage of it. With this clear disposition to focus more energy and resources on media trials than on diligent prosecution, it is no surprise that the EFCC has an embarrassing record of convictions.
It seems the EFCC is desperate to appear to be effective to win public confidence and make its Chairman, Ibrahim Magu relevant after the spate of losses it has recently recorded in the courts. If the decision to ignore the court’s earlier bail approval and proceed with a re-arraignment in Turaki’s trial were engineered to court public sympathy, it could be an exercise in futility. If anything, experience has shown that court cases are won on the basis of rigorous ground work of the kind that appears to be lacking within the EFCC. There is now overwhelming evidence that the EFCC under the leadership of Magu has substituted competence with theatrics. This has led to a situation where many of the EFCC’s cases are more of a media trial for the entertainment of the public than a prospective legal effort to bring suspects to justice.
A source familiar with this particular case claimed that the intrigues surrounding the case suggest that some persons are using the EFCC to pursue a deep seated personal agenda against the former Jigawa helmsman. A case in point is that while the EFCC had publicly postured that it will release the defendant on bail as per the first court order, it continued to hold him. ‘In fact the EFCC was to release Turaki on Friday last week after he met the bail conditions but for a phone call that came after from a highly placed individual” the source added. This confirms the popular view that EFCC has been exposed to external influence.
Another source who has been following the court proceedings closely revealed that the decision by the EFCC to continue to hold Turaki and re-arraign him may not be unconnected with the Commission’s realization that it has a rather weak case. When the Commission knows that it will lose a high profile case, it tries to compensate by milking as much media capital as it can from such a case. ‘So what the EFCC is doing now is to switch to propaganda mode as has been its modus operandi under Magu’s leadership’, the source revealed.
It is believed that the EFCC has a weak case because there is nothing linking Turaki to the key allegations in the charge.
For instance, the allegation that the former governor paid for an oil bloc with the proceeds of crime is inconsistent with charges since the business was done by a corporate entity, INC Natural Resources Ltd. Amazingly, the said company and two others, who were so crucial to the case and were charged alongside Turaki in 2007 were not even informed of this re arraignment confirming the earlier notion that the law enforcement agency is just bent on disgracing the former governor.
Observers are worried about the recurring cases of abuse of court processes recorded in the current government. It would appear that the government is breeding a culture that disregards court rulings and promotes propaganda. But it was expected that with the Acting President who is a professor of Law at the helm of affairs, the number of cases of blatant abuse of court orders will be reduced. Underlying this concern is the feeling that agencies of government like the EFCC have been selective in honouring court rulings, like the Saminu Turaki’s case demonstrates. This does not augur well for Nigeria’s democratic process.
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