Court Orders El-Rufai To Face Trial

A Federal Capital Territory High Court presided over by Justice Sadiq Abubakar Umar, yesterday, turned down an application by a former Minister of FCT, Malam Nasir el-Rufai and two others to quash the charges of misconduct and abuse of office filed against them by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

In his ruling, Justice Umar said the consolidated motion on notice filed by the accused persons on May 12 and June 28, 2011, through their counsel is unmeritorious and has failed the test of law.

The judge, who maintained that the prosecution has established a prima facie case against them, ordered that the three accused persons must face trial to defend the charges against them.

The two other accused persons arraigned with el-Rufai are a former Director-General, Abuja Geographic Information System, AGIS; Altine Jubrin, and a former General Manager, AGIS, Ismail Iro.

El-Rufai and his co-accused were initially re-arraigned on April 17th, 2011. Their arraignment followed a petition to EFCC, chronicling allegations of abuse of office against El-Rufai and how he misappropriated government land which he allocated to his friends and family members, in flagrant breach of the Abuja Master plan.

Culled From Vanguard