Alleged N24bn fraud: Kano govt charges ex-commissioner, Garo

The Kano State Government has formally charged the former Commissioner for Local Governments, Murtala Sule Garo, along with several others, in connection with the alleged diversion of N24 billion in local government funds.

Garo was a two-term commissioner for the Ministry for Local Government under the Abdullahi Umar Ganduje administration and the former All Progressive Congress (APC) deputy gubernatorial candidate in the 2023 general elections.

The development was disclosed in a Facebook post by Ibrahim Adam, the Personal Assistant to the Governor of Kano State, adding that the case registered under Charge No. K/1330/24 was presented before the High Court of Justice in the Kano Judicial Division.

According to him, the charges stemmed from allegations of misappropriation and diversion of public funds intended for local government use.

However, the defendants in the case include Murtala Sule Garo, Mohd Sule Garo, Mustapha Sule Garo, Isah Musa Kera, MJ Multipurpose Services Ltd, A.U Future Investment Ltd, and Shoreditch General Resources Ltd.

The charges were preferred under Section 211 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) and Sections 121(1), 123(1)(a), 126(b), and 377 of the Kano State Administration of Criminal Justice Law (2019).

The prosecution is led by Auwal Abdulqadir Sani, acting under the authority of the Attorney General of Kano State through a fiat dated August 2, 2023.

Accompanying the application to prefer charges are several documents, including the charge sheet, a list of witnesses and their statements, summaries of witness statements, summaries of evidence, and copies of the defendants’ statements and other exhibits.

READ ALSO FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE 

• Police Harassment, Extortion: IPMAN, NUPENG suspend strike in Oyo, Osun

• NEMA DG visits victims of Jos building collapse

• Lagos begins implementation of e-call-up for Lekki Port, others next month