A Federal Capital Territory High Court has ordered the arrest of Kabiru Turaki, a factional national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), over his failure to appear in court in a criminal case filed by the police.
Gatekeepers News reports that the order was issued on Thursday by Justice U.P. Kekemeke, who ruled that Turaki had no valid excuse for ignoring the court summons.
The case was instituted by the inspector-general of police, who filed a one-count charge accusing the former minister of providing false information to law enforcement in a petition submitted in October 2022.
Court proceedings showed that Turaki was initially scheduled for arraignment on January 28, but the hearing could not go on due to his absence. At a subsequent sitting, the prosecution informed the court that he had been duly summoned and requested the issuance of a bench warrant.
In response, Turaki’s counsel argued that his client stayed away because a petition had been sent to the chief judge of the FCT High Court seeking reassignment of the case to another judge.
However, Justice Kekemeke dismissed the argument, stating that filing such a petition does not halt criminal proceedings unless a directive is issued by the chief judge.
Following the ruling, the court granted the prosecution’s request and ordered Turaki’s arrest, intensifying legal pressure on the PDP chieftain amid ongoing internal party tensions.
