The Nasarawa State House of Assembly has urged the Court of Appeal to set aside the judgment of a lower court that voided the indictment of former Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Aliyu Tijani, over allegation of misappropriation of funds.
The request was contained in an appeal filed on behalf of the state House of Assembly and its Speaker by their Lawyer, Matthew Burkaa, before the Court of Appeal in Makurdi, Benue State.
NAN reports that the Nasarawa State High Court sitting in Akwanga, in its judgment, on Aug. 7, voided the indictment of Tijani by the state lawmakers in relation to his handling of N1 billion school renovation project while he served as the Commissioner for Education.
The lawmakers, during their investigations, had found among others, that N248, 848, 556.60 out of the project sum was unaccounted for. The House of Assembly proceeded to indict him for allegedly embezzling the N248, 848, 556.60 and directed him to refund the amount. He was subsequently sacked as the SSG by the state Governor, Abdullahi Sule.Tijani challenged his indictment in a suit marked: NSD/LF/46/2020, which he filed before the High Court of Nasarawa State in Akwanga and prayed the court to among others, void the findings of the state assembly.
Justice Mustapha Ramat, in that judgment of Aug. 7 ruled in TIjani’s favour and granted all his reliefs, including setting aside his indictment on the grounds that he was not accorded fair hearing in the course of the House of Assembly’s investigation.
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