Court Orders Arrest Of PDP Factional Chairman, Turaki

A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory has ordered the arrest of a factional National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Kabiru Turaki, for failing to appear before the court in a case instituted by the Inspector-General of Police.

Naija News reports that the order was issued on Thursday by the trial judge, Justice U.P. Kekemeke.

Justice Kekemeke held that the former minister had no justification for his failure to appear before the court for the proceedings.

The judge consequently directed that Turaki be arrested and brought before the court to face the charges against him.

The case was filed by the Inspector-General of Police, who accused Turaki of providing false information to the police.

According to the charge, the alleged offence is linked to a petition dated October 2022.

On January 28, the former minister was scheduled to be arraigned in court, but the case was stalled because he was absent.

During the court proceedings, the prosecutor told the court that the defendant was supposed to be in court pursuant to the earlier order summoning him.

The prosecutor had asked the court to issue a bench warrant against Turaki.

The defence counsel responded that his client was not in court because there is a letter to the chief judge of the FCT High Court seeking a transfer of the case to another judge.

The defence counsel said a petition expressing doubt on confidence in the court has been submitted to the chief judge.

K.N. Ogbonnaya, the trial judge, said filing a petition to the chief judge cannot stop the continuation of a criminal proceeding unless a directive comes from the chief judge.

The case was later adjourned to March 5.