The Court of Appeal sitting in Ibadan on Tuesday struck out N211.3 million fraud case against former Governor Gbenga Daniel of Ogun State.
The N211.3m fraud in a 15 - count- charge was brought against Daniel by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission ( EFCC).
Justice Yargata Nimpar of the Ibadan
Division of the appeal court who read the judgment, found merit in the eight issues brought to the court by Daniel against the EFCC and struck out the case.
Ms Nimpar described the prosecution as malicious, advising that the anti -graft agency should not resort to state fiat to prosecute a governor for an action protected by a federal legislation like the Land Use Act.
The noted that the Land Use Act empowers a governor to allocate land to all nigerians, including churches and for all purposes.
The court also noted that Mr Daniel was tried in Abuja for a supposed crime purportedly committed against Ogun, as such the trial court lacked jurisdiction to try him.
The ex - governor had earlier approached the appellate court after a lower court dismissed his no-case submission on charges bordering on asset declaration, land allocation, corrupt enrichment among others.
The trial had faced multiple setbacks following failure to present witnesses.
Mr Daniel was arraigned on October 12, 2011 on 43-count charges on allegedly stealing and mismanaging about N7 billion as Ogun governor.
On April 16, 2012, Mr Daniel was re-arraigned on 38-count charge in connection with stealing and mismanaging N211.3m, after the court dismissed the earlier case over failure of EFCC to seek leave of court to amend the information it had presented.
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