Former President Jonathan’s Campaign Chief Arrested

One of  former president Goodluck Jonathan’s campaign coordinators during the last presidential elections, Aminu Abubakar, was remanded in prison custody today, June 10, Premium Times reports.
Abubakar, chairman, Goodluck support group, was thrown into custody by an Abuja high court over allegations of blackmail leveled against him.

He was arraigned in court alongside Okechukwu Geoffrey by the independent corrupt practices and other related offences commission on a three-count charge under the penal code for extortion and conspiracy to extort from innocent persons.
Abubakar and Geoffrey were said to had some vital documents relating to some officials of the federal ministry of petroleum resources in their possession, with which they used to blackmail with threats that the documents were going to be published except they were paid the sum of N25million naira.

Reacting to the charges, the lawyer representing the duo, E. A. Egbedu, challenged the court’s jurisdiction to entertain the case while calling for the charges against his clients to be thrown out. But the prosecuting counsel, George Lawal, objected and said the application was premature.
The court, however, examined the possibility of dropping the charge with its jurisdiction under challenge, as canvassed by Egbedu, without prejudice to the right of the defence, ordered the accused plea to be taken.

The presiding judge, Ishaq Bello, adjourned the case till July 9. He also said the accused bail application will be taken on June 11.
Following their loss at the 2015 elections, the PDP has been enmeshed in crisis across the states. The chairman of the Lagos state chapter of the PDP, Tunji Shelle, had also been relieved of his duties for misusing election campaign funds.

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