Fraud: Court orders substituted service on Ganduje, wife, son

A Kano State High Court, on Wednesday, June 5, 2024, granted an order seeking to serve the National Chairman of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, who is charged with alleged bribery and misappropriation.

The Kano State Government dragged Ganduje, his wife, Hafsat Umar, and his son, Umar Abdullahi, to the court over eight counts of misappropriation and diversion of funds during his eight-year tenure in office.

Others charged with Ganduje are Abubakar Bawuro, Jibrilla Muhammad, Lamash properties Limited, Safari Textiles Limited, and Lasage General Enterprises Limited.

They were charged with eight counts of bribery allegations, misappropriation and division of public funds running into billions of naira.

Justice Amina Adamu-Aliyu, on Wednesday, gave the order following an application made to that effect by the counsel for the Kano State Government, Zahradeen Kofar-Mata, who stand in for the lead prosecution counsel, Ya’u Adamu.

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Earlier, the 6th respondent counsel, Nureini Jimoh (SAN), challenged the appearance of Adamu and his team on the ground that there is a fiat given to a specific person and only that person can appear in this case.

He objected to the motion exparte seeking to serve the respondents through substituted means.

Adamu told the court that since his appearance was challenged by the 6th respondent counsel, Kofar-Mata will move the application on motion exparte.

The lawyer said: “My lord, Kofar-Mata has a fiat to appear in any matter concerning financial crime.

“I urge the court to allow us move this motion.”

Kofar-Mata moved the motion exparte filed and dated May 29, supported by seven paragraphs seeking to serve the respondents through substituted means by publishing them in two national daily newspapers.

Justice Adamu-Aliyu, therefore, ordered all parties involved to present their individual fiat to the court and adjourned the matter until July 11 for hearing.

The Star