The Jigawa State government has sued the immediate past attorney-general of the state and commissioner for justice, Sani Hussaini Garun-Gabbas, over allegation of non-prosecution of an appeal after collecting fees for the job.
In the suit filed before an High Court of the state by the state’s attorney general and commissioner of justice, Dr Musa Adamu Aliyu, the state government alleged that Garun-Gabbas collected N7.7million during his tenure as the state’s attorney-general, for the purpose of appealing a case at the Supreme Court but he failed to do so.
In the court process dated November 5, 2021, the plaintff sought the order of th court to mandate Garun-Gabbas to refund the amount paid to him as “there was no proof” he worked on the case for which the money was paid.
Garun-Gabbas, a senior advocate of Nigeria, had served as the commissioner of justice in the state during Governor Mohammed Badaru Abubakar’s first tenure between 2015 and 2019.
It would be recalled that the state government had in February 2015 dragged a former local government chairman in the state, Idris Iliyasu Danlawan, and one of his associates before a High Court in the state for allegedly engineering the murder of a village man who booed them at their campaign train.
Danlawan was, however, discharged and acquitted by the State’s High Court. The government also lost on appeal at the Court of Appeal.
But in an April 2018 memo, Garun-Gabbas, then as attorney-general of the state, wrote Governor Badaru seeking funds to enable him appeal the case at the Supreme Court, arguing that the two lower courts erred in their judgements.
His request for N7.7million for the purpose was approved by the governor and paid to the ministry on May 4, 2018.
But in the suit, the government alleged that the former commissioner collected the money in cash and did not pursue the case as he promised.
The state government sought “declaration that the claimaant is entitled to refund of the sum of N7,700,000 (seven million seven hundred thousand naira only) being funds to prosecute appeal at the Supreme Court of appeal in a State v Idris Iliyasu Danlawan and 1 other collected in cash by Defendant from the cashier of the Ministry of Justice and there is no proof that the funds collected were used for the purpose it was collected.”
The attorney-general prayed the court to direct Garun-Gabas to refund the money to the ministry for allegedly failing to fulfill the purpose for which it was meant.
