BREAKING: Court discharges former Jigawa Gov of N8.3b fraud charges

What happened: Turaki, a former governor of Jigawa State and 3 Companies have been standing trial since May 4, 2007; 15 years, 5 months and 7 days ago.

The EFCC dragged the parties to court over a 33-count charge bothering on diversification and misappropriation of state funds.

How they got acquitted: The presiding judge, Justice Hassan Dikko, who delivered the ruling, struck out all charges and discharged all the accused persons for want of diligent prosecution.

The court further ordered that the travel documents of the 1st accused person be released to him with immediate effect.

Reacting to the judgment: Saidu Muhammad Tudunwada, one of the Saminu Turaki Defense Counsel, said the court found merit in their application for the discharge of the Accused person against the 33 count charges.

He added that with the ruling, Justice has been served and it is a victory for all.

A 2006 report said he was involved in acquiring companies in Nigeria's insurance industry for president Olusegun Obasanjo

In July 2007, the EFCC arrested Turaki over allegations of corruption and money laundering. Turaki faced a 32-count charge of money laundering, and was said to have laundered about N36 billion of public funds into private accounts. He was released on bail with stringent conditions.

On 4 July 2017, Turaki was re-arrested by the EFCC while at a public function in Abuja, riding on a 2013 court document ordering his arrest for evading court summons. Turaki denied ever evading trial and accused the anti-graft agency of misleading the judge in granting such an order.

He also denied being on the run or evading arrest from the time the order was granted four years ago, since he had attended well-publicised official, social and business functions around Nigeria and beyond. Upon this premise, Turaki was detained by the EFCC for about 14 days without any charge.

This prompted the former governor to institute a fundamental human rights suit against the anti-graft agency. He prayed the court to commit the head of the agency to prison for denying him his freedom even after he was granted bail by the law court. Turaki was released on bail on 27 July with the commencement of his trial slated for 19 September 2017.

The case bordered mostly on the concealment of the actual nature and use of some certain funds during his period as governor. Turaki denied any wrongdoing and has maintained that the case instituted against him was politically motivated. He pleaded not guilty to all the charges.