Justice Babatunde Quadri of the Federal High Court Gombe today refused an application by Danjuma Goje, former governor of Gombe state and five others to transfer the case of conspiracy and money laundering brought against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
Chris Uche SAN, counsel to the accused persons had approached the court to transfer the case from Gombe to Abuja citing prevailing insecurity in Gombe and the North East region. In the supporting affidavit, Uche stated that the spate of kidnappings, killings, assassinations and bomb blasts in the North East and Gombe in particular, makes the place unsafe for his clients to have fair hearing.
EFCC counsel Wahab Shittu, opposed the application, stating that insecurity is a national challenge, which the security agencies are addressing.
In his ruling, Justice B.O Quadri dismissed the application for lack of merit. According to the judge, ‘criminal jurisdiction of crime is territorial and cannot be amorphous’.
March 7 and 8, 2013 have been fixed for continuation of trial and accelerated hearing.
