The former Minister of Science and Technology, Abdu Bulama, and four others, who were accused of money laundering involving N450million is to face fresh trial.
Court of Appeal in Gombe, gave this order while upturning the decision of a Federal High Court who had earlier acquitted the defendants in a judgment delivered on March 3.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, accused the former minister and his co-defendants of receiving and sharing the money allegedly provided by a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, to influence the outcome of the 2015 presidential election.
Justice Isa Dashen, of the Federal High Court in Damaturu, Yobe State, had earlier discharged and acquitted the defendants after upholding their no-case submission which they filed after the prosecution closed its case.
But a statement by the spokesperson for the EFCC, Wilson Uwujaren, stated that the appellate court
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Ruling on the prosecution’s appeal against the trial court’s decision, the Court of Appeal ordered that the case be re-assigned to another judge of the Federal High Court for retrial.
His co-defendants are Mohammed Kadai, a former Commissioner for Integrated and Rural Development in Yobe State and Deputy Coordinator of Goodluck Jonathan Campaign Organisation, Abba Gana Tata, Muhammad Mamu and Hassan Ibn Jaks.
EFCC’s counsel, Mukhtar Ahmed, had presented six witnesses and tendered documents that were admitted in evidence by the court.
At the close of the prosecution’s case, the defendants opted for a “no case submission” which the judge upheld by discharging and acquitting them.
