Appeal court orders retrial of Kano APC governorship hopeful over ‘$1.32m fraud’

A court of appeal sitting in Kano, on Wednesday, ordered the fresh trial of Abdulsalam Zaura, governorship hopeful seeking to contest on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), over $1,320,000 fraud allegation.

Zaura, better known as A.A. Zaura, was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in 2018 on a five-count charge before the federal high court sitting in Kano.

The anti-graft agency had accused Zaura of defrauding a Kuwaiti national by obtaining the sum of $1,320,000 under the pretext that he is in the business of building properties in Dubai, Kuwait and other Arab countries.

In June 2020, Lewis Allagoa, the presiding judge, found the defendant not guilty and discharged him on all counts.

Dissatisfied with the judgment of the lower court, Musa Isah, counsel representing the EFCC, took the matter to the court of appeal in a bid to overturn the judgment of the lower court.

The EFCC told the court that Zaura was absent when the judgment was delivered in 2020, adding that based on several judgments of the supreme court, an accused person must always be present in court throughout his trial.

The court found merit in the appeal and upheld the same accordingly.

In a unanimous decision by a three-member panel of judges on Wednesday, the judgment of the federal high court was set aside.

Abdullahi Bayero, who spoke on behalf of the appeal court panel, also ordered that the defendant be tried afresh by a different judge other than Allagoa.

“Having determined the issue in favour of the appellant, the appeal naturally succeeds. The judgment of the lower court in suit number FHCK/CR2018/FRN against Abdulsalam Abdulkarim delivered on June 9, 2020, is hereby set aside,” Bayero said.