By Maduabuchi Nmeribeh/Kano
A Federal High Court sitting in Kano, presided over by Justice Simon Amobeda, on Thursday, ordered the immediate sack of the Executive Chairman of the Public Complaints and Anti Corruption Commission (PCACC), Kano State, Bar. Muhuyi Magaji Rimini Gado.
Justice Amobeda, while delivering judgment in a suit filed against Muhuyi by two aggrieved Kano citizens Muhammad Garo and Mustapha, declared that he was no longer fit to remain in office.
Other defendants in the fundamental rights suit include the Kano State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice Haruna Dederi, the Inspector General of Police, IGP, and three others.
Justice Amobeda also, urged the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee, (LPDC), to carry out a comprehensive inquest into Muhuyi’s, “penchant for disobedience of Court rulings.”
The Judge held that going by an earlier ruling by a Court of competent jurisdiction, Rimin Gado was not supposed to continue in office.
Our Correspondent recalls that the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) had earlier in the year suspended Muhuyi from office.
The suspension followed his arraignment before the CCT, over alleged corruption charges, conflict of interest, refusal to submit a written asset declaration document, false declaration of assets and gross abuse of office.
The CCT Chairman, Danladi Umar, noted that “it will not be right for the Anti Graft Agency’s Chairman to continue to discharge his duties, while his trial is ongoing.”
He maintained that the suspension became necessary to prevent any official interference with the trial.
However, Muhuyi has continued to carry out his official duties, even with the CCT suspension.
The suspension order was in April 2024, similarly affirmed by a Federal High Court sitting in Kano, which held that by the CCT order, Muhuyi could no longer continue to preside over the affairs of the Kano PCACC.
However, Justice Amobeda ordered the Kano State Government and the State Attorney General to remove Muhuyi from office in compliance with the CCT suspension order.
Meanwhile, Justice Amobeda has issued an interlocutory order restraining the Kano State Anti-Corruption Commission, security agencies and or their privies from arresting, investigating intimidating, and/ or harassing the applicants in the fundamental rights suit (Garo and Mustapha).
The Court also ordered the defendants to pay the applicants the sum of N10 million as a cost for the assassination of character and bringing their reputation into disrepute.
The applicants had approached the Court following attempts to arrest them over alleged connivance with former Kano State top Government officials to misappropriate public funds through their business outfits.