Produce Taraba APC Governor Candidate For Trial Court tells EFCC

Eniola Olayemi

Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has been ordered to refund N228 million it forcefully collected from ex-Speaker of Taraba State House of Assembly, Mark Useni and two others.

The two other persons are the state’s All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Sani Danladi, and Senator Joel Ikenya.

The order was given to the anti-graft agency on Wednesday by the Federal High Court sitting in Jalingo, the Taraba State capital.

The court which accused the prosecution of failure to provide concrete evidence to nail the defendants, said its order must be complied with by the EFCC within 72 hours.

The EFCC had charged the trio to court on the allegation that they conspired and misappropriated the sum of N450 million presidential campaign funds in 2015.

But when the matter came up, Justice Stephen Pam, who presided over the case said the EFCC failed to substantiate its claims against the defendants.

Asking the anti-graft agency to desist from infringing on the rights of innocent citizens, the judge ruled, “The EFCC is hereby ordered to refund the sum of N228 million which the commission received from the defendants.”