Litigant Accuses Magistrate Of N400,000 Extortion

A litigant has accused Magistrate Aminu Gabari of extortion, forcing him to pay a bribe of N400,000 into his account, a claim the magistrate has since denied.

In a petition addressed to Kano State Chief Judge, Nura Sagir, one Ismail Maitama Yusuf a complaint before magistrate Gabari, claimed the paid the sum I'm two batches to the judge.

According to Daily Nigerian, the petition dated January 31, 2022, also revealed how Gabari released two suspects in questionable circumstances, despite defrauding the petitioner N38 millionn.

“Sir, sometime in December 2020, I was defrauded by some people named Abbas Dauda Isah, Awwal Mainasara and Jeremiah Obida (now defendants), where they conspired and defrauded me the sum of N38,000,000 (Thirty-Eight Million Naira) as a result of which the police from the AIG Zone 1 Kano filed FIR against them, (and) same was directed to Senior Magistrate Court 58 Normansland, Kano for the prosecution of the offences of conspiracy and receipt by false pretence,” reads part of the petition

 “Sir, during the arraignment, the defendants admitted the alleged offences and the court asked them to write an undertaking for the refund of my money. They undertook in writing to refund my money within two weeks from the date of the arraignment, but they failed to do so as promised. Instead, the two defendants only deposited the sum of N3,000,000 each, making the total sum of N6,000,000 as part of my money. They are Abbas Dauda Isah and Auwal Mainassara.

 “Sir, the court released them on bail, but the third defendant (Jeremiah Obida) was released on bail without providing any surety/sureties for the reason best known to the court, as a result of which he (Jeremiah Obida) absconded bail and disappeared for more than 8 months.

“Sir, before the sum of N6,000,000 deposited as part of my money released to me, I was forced by the above-mentioned magistrate that I will be given the money on bond and I must give him the sum of N400,000 as his share, which he collected the sum of N200,000 through a bank account. I attached the back payment slip of N200,000 to his bank account as evidence.

“Subsequently, he collected the addition at the sum of N200,000 cash from me at his residence in Sharada Jaen, Baffa Babba Dan-Agundi line, in the presence of Mallam Bashir Ahmed and Yusuf Muhammad Sani as witnesses.

“Sir, as soon as the court knew that he (Jeremiah Obida) was re-apprehended by his co-defendants, the court without any application by either party, transferred the case instantly to Chief Magistrate Court 14, Gyadi-Gyadi Complex, because the Magistrate Court 58 does not want the secret behind the abscondment of bail of Jeremiah Obida to be exposed, and therefore, the magistrate extracted some important documents in the case file, including the bond I was forced to write and the undertaking written for the refund of my money by Jeremiah Obida and then transferred the case, almost empty file.

 “Sir, with the utmost respect, even though the case was transferred before Chief Magistrate Court 14 Gyadi-Gyadi suo-moto by the Court 58, however, His Worship Aminu Muhammad Gabari keeps calling me with his mobile phone number (08065433765) on different occasions that I should refund the sum of N6,000,000 to him, or else he will deal with me and even threatened to arrest anytime and anywhere.”

When Daily Nigerian approached Gabari to speak on the allegations, the magistrate denied collecting any bribe from the petitioner, saying that the allegation is a mere claim.

According to Gabari, the petitioner came up with the allegations to create public sympathy because he was declared wanted by the court.

He said: “I can’t respond to the petition. Responding to the petition means I am joining issues with him, which contravenes my stand as a public servant.

“If you need further clarification on the matter, please contact the PRO of the court.

“The petitioner is on a bench warrant. I have ordered his arrest to return the N6million he collected on bond. He promised to return the money anytime the court needs it but has refused to do so.”

 Legal experts however opine that the issuance of the bench warrant against the nominal complainant amounts to abuse of office and gross misapplication of the law because the magistrate is no longer exercising jurisdiction on the case and the fact that the magistrate cannot be a judge in his case.