A Federal High Court, sitting in Jos, Plateau State, has issued a bench warrant for the arrest of a former Governor of Gombe State, Senator Danjuma Goje, for refusing to show up in court.
Mr Goje is a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) after he defected from the opposing People’s Democratic Party, PDP.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC said in a Facebook post that Goje, who is being charged with an alleged N25bn fraud, might be arrested on Wednesday (today) if he failed to show up in court, according to the Punch.
The statement read, “A Federal High Court, sitting in Jos, Plateau State, on October 4, 2016 (Tuesday) issued a bench warrant against former Governor of Gombe State, Danjuma Goje, for refusing to show up in court. The warrant is however to take effect by 8am on October 5, 2016, if he fails to show up in court again.”
Among several charges, Goje, who is the Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation, is accused of illegally awarding a N1bn contract for the supply of dictionaries to secondary schools while he was governor of the state.
At the last sitting, a prosecution witness, Salisu Abaji, said the ex-governor awarded a contract for the supply of dictionaries for over N1bn to Gombe State Universal Basic Education Board without following procurement process.
He was also alleged to have paid 85 per cent of the contract sum upfront to the supplier, Real and Integrated Hospitality Company, as against the prescribed 15 per cent as contained in the UBEB guidelines when he was the governor.
The prosecution witness, who is a former secretary to UBEB, made this testimony against his former boss.
He further submitted that one Aliyu el-Naffty, former UBEB chairman, also an accused person standing trial along with Goje, awarded the contract the same day and ordered the advance payment based on the directive of the then governor.
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