The Kano State Government has officially charged the former Commissioner for Local Governments, Murtala Sule Garo, along with several others, in connection with the alleged diversion of N24 billion intended for local government funds.
Garo, who served two terms as commissioner for the Ministry for Local Government under the administration of Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, was also the deputy gubernatorial candidate for the All Progressive Congress (APC) in the 2023 general elections.
The formal charge was announced in a Facebook post on Tuesday by Ibrahim Adam, the Personal Assistant to the Governor of Kano State.
The case, registered under Charge No. K/1330/24, was presented before the High Court of Justice in the Kano Judicial Division.
According to Ibrahim Adam, the charges are based on accusations of misappropriation and diversion of public funds that were designated for local government use.
The defendants in this case include Murtala Sule Garo, Mohd Sule Garo, Mustapha Sule Garo, Isah Musa Kera, MJ Multipurpose Services Ltd, A.U Future Investment Ltd, and Shoreditch General Resources Ltd.
The charges have been filed under Section 211 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), as well as Sections 121(1), 123(1)(a), 126(b), and 377 of the Kano State Administration of Criminal Justice Law (2019).
The prosecution team is led by Auwal Abdulqadir Sani, who is acting under the authority of the Attorney General of Kano State through a fiat dated August 2, 2023.
The application to prefer charges is accompanied by a number of documents, including the charge sheet, a list of witnesses and their statements, summaries of witness statements, summaries of evidence, and copies of the defendants’ statements and other relevant exhibits.
