Court Acquits Farah Dagogo of Criminal Charges
From ERIC MOORE, Port Harcourt
A High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State, Monday discharged and acquitted the immediate past member of the House of Representatives, Farah Dagogo, of criminal charges proffered against him by the state government.
Dagogo was arrested on April 28, 2022, in Port Harcourt, the day he appeared for screening as a governorship aspirant of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State.
The lawmaker’s arrest followed his being earlier declared wanted by the then Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, who accused him of sponsoring thugs and cultists to disrupt the PDP screening exercise for National Assembly and State Assembly aspirants, an allegation Dagogo strenuously denied.
Dagogo maintained that allegation was all trump-up charges to prevent him from contesting the governorship position.
In his ruling on Monday, in suit no PHC/1440/CR/2022- ‘The State v Hon. Farah Dagogo’, Justice Chinwendu Nworgu of the Port Harcourt High Court expressed dismay that the prosecution was not diligent and thereby discharged and acquitted the former governorship aspirant of all charges.
Before the latest ruling, Farah Dagogo had been on bail since June, 2022, after earlier spending 63 days in detention.
Speaking after the ruling, the lead counsel for the former federal lawmaker, Cosmas Enweluzo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), explained that the ruling had freed accused of all encumberances as the case cannot be resurrected in any court of law in the country.
He said: “The matter has just ended. The court dismissing the charge and discharging and acquitting the defendant which is Hon. Doctor Farah Dagogo. And this is premise on the fact that there is absolute lack of diligent prosecution.
“The prosecution has lost its steam and so because of that, the court cannot forever keep an accused or defendant perpetually attending the court, restraining his movements and stopping him from using his precious time and subjecting everything about him to abysmal waste.
“As a result of that, the court, after its consideration, struck out the charge and then discharged and acquitted the defendant. That means that no means or form of other charges can be brought up in any court of law against Hon. Doctor Farah Dagogo as a result of this charge.
“Any further action taken will be seen as double jeopardy because of the fact that decision has been taken in this matter. In order words, the decision has rested the case fully and finally, not to resurrect again.”