POLITICAL NOTES
In what many analysts have regarded as an attempt to woo former Governor of Katsina State, Ibrahim Shema, to the All Progressives Congress (APC), the state government led by Governor Aminu Masari, has withdrawn the N11 billion criminal charges it filed against him and a former Chairman of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), Ibrahim Lawal Dankaba before the state High Court
The state Director of Public Prosecution, Abdulrahman Umar, while briefing journalists at the Government House, said the withdrawal of the suit against the two defendants followed a nolle prosequi filed by the state government before the court
Shema, who governed the state from 2007 to 2015, was arraigned before the late Justice Ibrahim Maikaita-Bako at the State High Court 3 in 2016 for alleged criminal breach of trust, forgery, abuse of office and conversion of public funds to the tune of over N11 billion while he was governor.
The ex-governor was further dragged before the court with former Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Alhaji Sani Hamisu Makana; former Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Alhaji Lawai Rufai and Dankaba, the former ALGON chairman.
Shema, who was elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), pleaded not guilty to all the charges levelled against them by the Governor Masari-led government.
Umar said the court during last Monday’s proceedings accepted the nolle prosequi and discharged the erstwhile governor and Dankaba from all corruption charges instituted against them by the state government.
Lately, Governor Masari has become desperate. He wants to keep the state for the APC at all cost. One way to achieve this is to woo all the influential persons in the state. He does not want to allow the PDP win the state in March 11 governorship election in order not to avoid the treatment he gave to Shema.
But question are: Why did he have to subject Shema to all the troubles if he knew that he would one day withdraw the charges? Were the charges politically-motivated? What if the governor refuses to defect from the PDP to APC? Will the charges be refiled?
This has added to why many things do not work in the country. It is because most decisions are taken for political reasons and not public interest.
