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An Abuja High
Court, will on February 23, hear a preliminary objections file by Nasir
El Rufai and two others,seeking to quash allegation of fraudulent
allocation of land, during his tenure as minister of the Federal
Capital Territory Abuja.

Sadiq Umar, the
presiding Judge, yesterday adjourned hearing till February 23 to hear
the objections filed by Mr El Rufai contesting the charges.

It would be
recalled that a Federal High Court in Abuja last year threw out a suit
filed against former minister, over allegations of fraudulent
allocation of land.

The presiding judge
that threw out the suit, Adamu Bello,said 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since been repealed.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 Mr El
Rufai.

The decision is in
line with Mr El-Rufai’s defence. His counsel, Akin Olujimi, in a
preliminary objection, had said that because the law under which Mr
El-Rufai was charged was repealed in 2003, the federal court lacked the
jurisdiction to try the matter.“The prosecution acknowledges that the
charges stand on nothing,” said Mr Olujimi. “The effect of a repealed
law is that it is a nullity, and no charges founded on it can stand.”
In his defence, the former minister had also told the court that it
lacked the power to try him over allegations of abuse of office as
minister. He said that the proper court to try him was the Abuja High
Court.

Mr El-Rufai and two
others were accused by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission 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.

The Federal
Government responded to the dismissal of the charges by filing fresh
charges at the Abuja High Court. At yesterday sitting,the prosecution
raised the matter of the absence of the accused persons.The defence
countered that their presence was not necessary since the validity of
the charges was at issue. The court ruled that the court needed to
first establish its jurisdiction and the competence of the charges.

The court decided to consolidate all the applications filed by the parties.