Katsina Govt Drops N11bn Fraud Suit Against Shema

Katsina State government has withdrawn the case of alleged misappropriation of N11 billion against former governor Ibrahim Shehu Shema and one Lawal Dankaba.

Shema alongside three others was dragged to the high court in 2016 by the state government and the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) over alleged misappropriation of funds belonging to the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON).

But the state director of public prosecution in the Ministry of Justice, Malam Abdulrahman Umar, told journalists in Katsina, the state capital yesterday that the state government had withdrawn its litigation against Shema.

He said, “This is the power of a state attorney-general under Section 211 of the 1999 constitution as (amended), to institute action on a criminal case against any person before any court of law.

“The attorney-general can take over any criminal proceedings against any person, as well as the power to discontinue any case at any stage of the proceeding before judgment is entered. She exercised that power and we went with it and the court gladly accepted the position of the attorney-general to discontinue the case.

“To that effect, the former governor and Lawal Dankaba were discharged from all the charges filed against them.”