Nigeria Content Online

The Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday re-arraigned former
minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nasir el-Rufai, before
the Federal High Court in Abuja over allegations of fraudulent
allocation of land and abuse of office during his tenure as minister.

The court however granted him bail in self-recognition.

The Court had
recently ruled that an application by Mr. el-Rufai, seeking to stop his
arraignment by the Commission, lacked merit and that he should make
himself available for trial.

The trial judge,
Sadiq Umar ruling on a preliminary objection by Akin Olujimi, lawyer to
Mr el-Rufai, said the trial of the former minister should go ahead.

Mr. Olujimi, in the
preliminary objections, argued that the charges levelled against his
client had no legal bases, having been filed under a repealed law, the
ICPC Act 2003. He said under the repealed law, the FCT High Court
lacked the jurisdiction to entertain the matter and urged the court to
quash the charges and discharge the accused persons.

But Justice Umar
held that the EFCC had filed fresh charges based on the ICPC Act of
2000, and held that under the Act, the EFCC had the powers to amend the
charges against an accused before judgment is delivered.

“In this case, the
accused have yet to be arraigned to take their plea, so the court can
grant the EFCC leave to amend the charge as contained in the provisions
of the ICPC Act 2000,” he said.

The judge also held
that the EFCC, under provisions of section 46 of the act setting it up,
has the responsibility to investigate all economic and financial crimes
in the country.

A Federal High
Court in Abuja had, last year, thrown out the suit filed against the
former minister on the same issue. The presiding judge, Adamu Bello,
ruled that the charges had no legal basis, having been filed under the
Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission
(ICPC) Act of 2000, a law that has since been repealed.

The judge quashed the charges and discharged El Rufai.

The Federal
Government however responded to the dismissal of the charges by filing
fresh charges at the Abuja High Court. Mr El-Rufai and two others were
accused by the EFCC of illegally allocating land in the FCT to friends
and relatives, some of whom included: Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, the
daughter of former president Olusegun Obasanjo.

The other accused
persons are Altine Jubrin, former director general of the Abuja
Geographical Information System, and Ismail Iro, former general manager
of the agency. All three men pleaded not guilty.

Liberal bail condition

At yesterday’s
sitting, Mr Umar granted bail to El Rufai in self-recognition after the
former minister pleaded not guilty to the eight count charge, saying
that given El Rufai’s past service as a minister and his compliance
with the bail conditions previously imposed by the EFCC and the Federal
High Court, the court decided to exercise its discretion by granting
him bail in self-recognition.

He adjourned the matter till May 17, 2011.

El Rufai and two
others were arraigned on charges relating to the allocation of plots of
land in the federal capital. After the pleas were taken, Mr Olujimi
moved the application for bail, urging the court to grant it in very
liberal terms.

But counsel to the
EFCC did not oppose the application, citing the antecedents of the case
and the compliance of the accused persons to previous bail conditions.