A former Governor of Plateau State, Jonah Jang, will be arraigned on Monday at the Plateau State High Court in Jos, after he would have spent 168 hours (one week) in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in Abuja, a family source has said.
“Jonah David Jang has not been released. The case is coming up on Monday and he will be arraigned before Justice Daniel Longji of Plateau State High Court in Jos on the 12 counts filed against him by the EFCC,” the source said.
The EFCC had preferred 12 charges against him over an alleged fraud amounting to about N6.3bn.
The ex-governor, who currently represents Plateau-North Senatorial District, allegedly embezzled some special funds released to the state by the Central Bank of Nigeria. He was said to have perpetrated the fraud two months to the end of his tenure as governor in 2015.
Jang, in a motion on notice filed by his team of lawyers led by Christopher Eichie, Yakubu Philemon and Kola Oseni, before a Federal Capital Territory High Court in Abuja to enforce his fundamental human rights, said he was diabetic.
He asked the court to order the EFCC to pay him N500m in damages for his detention without trial and to offer him public apology in two national newspapers.
In a related development, the General Overseer of the Evangelical Outreach Ministries International, Prophet Isa El-Buba, has said that Nigerians seeking to contest the Presidency in the 2019 general elections with President Muhammadu Buhari should expect mass arrest.
He also warned that Nigeria would soon cease to exist if the trend of killings and attacks on Christians by suspected Fulani herdsmen in different parts of the country continued unchecked.
El-Buba said this in an interview with journalists in Jos, while reacting to the continued detention of Jang by the EFCC, without trial.
He said, “The continued detention of Jang without trial is jungle justice. One thing I know about Jang is that he can fight injustice and oppression. The Bible is very clear; a government that establishes itself on the seat of righteousness and justice will live.
“But a government that establishes itself on injustice and unrighteousness will be taken off and this is what we are going to see. As we prepare for the 2019 elections, Nigerians should expect mass arrest. Anybody seeking election should be ready for arrest.
“I don’t see any reason why the EFCC should continue to keep Jang without arraignment. There is no reason for the confinement of Jang because he has always shown up whenever he is invited.”
