It was celebrations galore as the case by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, against Senator Umar Tafida was struck out by a Sokoto High Court on Monday ( 21st March, 2022.)
The case of money laundering brought against Senator Umar by the commission on behalf ofthe Federal government was struck out by Justice Mohammed Mohammed.
In the ruling, Justice Mohammed berated EFCC as a meddlesome interloper that refused to do its homework before charging people to court.
According to Justice Mohammed, the EFCC failed to follow due process of the law in bringing the charges against Senator Tafida.
According to the Judge, the matter which EFCC sought to bring against the Senator was a pure civil transaction based on the business contract between the company of Senator Tafida, Hijarah Textiles and Sokoto State government via a Memorandum ofUnderstanding, MoU signed by two parties who had joint responsibility of providing funds for working capital and as might be required for the operations of the company based on the ratio of share-holdings or ownership structure between the parties.
Therefore, the sum of N100 million paid by Sokoto State government to HijarahTextiles, which the EFCC alleged was money laundering by Senator Tafida on behalfof agents of Sokoto State government in the view of the court was “for the purchase of 40% shareholding”.
On the matter of a possible disagreement between parties to the contract, the court ruled that the MoU had defined steps to address such.
The court admonished the anti- graft agency to desist from interfering in civil cases of this nature.
The honourable court advised the anti-corruption agency to stick strictly to its mandate, and examine critically all petitions brought before it, and know those within its mandate, and be bold enough to turn down petitions outside its legal and prosecutorial capacity.
The Sokoto State high court Judge, Mohammed noted that “government investigative agencies like EFCC has no right to dictate on what the terms of a business contract will be between business partners, and that even a court of law does not have such a right.”
It was learnt that the frivolous matter against Senator Tafida was orchestrated by political opponents who sought to tarnish his reputation and truncate his political profile which is on the rise.
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