SAN FRANCISCO, December 13, 2013, (THEWILL) – An Abuja High court Friday acquitted former FCT Minister, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai of charges of abuse of power relating to a land revocation case.
El-Rufai was charged under the Corruption and Other Related Offences Act, 2000 for using his position to corruptly revoke a plot of land from its previous owners – Power Holding Company of Nigeria Plc – and re-award same to his wife, Hadiza Ahmed El-Rufai.
UPDATE:
Former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, and two officials of the Abuja Geographic Information System, AGIS, facing trial for alleged abuse of office and corruption, have been discharged and acquitted.
The accused were freed on Friday by an Abuja High Court presided over by Justice Sadiq Umar.
El-Rufai was accused of willfully distorting the Abuja Master Plan by irregularly revoking the ownership title of two parcels of land belonging to PHCN, and NIPOST.
He was also alleged to have reallocated part of the land to the two officials of AGIS and another to his relations and associates.
The said parcels of land which provoked the criminal charge were located in the high brow areas of Asokoro and Maitama in the Federal Capital Territory.
El-Rufai was first arraigned in 2008 and re-arraigned in April, 2011 by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) alongside the two others for re-allocating two plots of land previously allocated to the Power Holdings Company of Nigeria (PHCN) and the Nigeria Postal Services, (NIPOST) to his family and associates.
Charged with the former Minister were the former Director General of the Abuja Geographic Information Systems (AGIS), Altine Jubril and the former General Manager, AGIS Ismaila Iro.
But they had all pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Ruling on the matter on Friday, the court held that the evidence provided by the prosecution was flawed and filled with material contradictions.
Justice Umar, in discharging El-Rufai, ruled that all the ingredients of the alleged offences of conferring an undue advantage on his family and associates were not proved.
Although El-Rufai had in a no-case-submission filed by counsel, Kanu Agabi (SAN) and Akin Olujimi (SAN), argued that as Minister of the FCT, he was empowered by the constitution to grant and revoke land, counsel to the EFCC Adebayo Adelodun (SAN) said he would test the ruling in a higher court if briefed by his client.
El-Rufai has however promised to forgive all those behind his trial.
He said he intended to “move on, stepping confidently into the future with forgiveness and goodwill devoid of the cobwebs of grudge.”
