Youths protest at Danjuma Goje’s trial over alleged money laundering

OVER 100 youths yesterday converged at the Federal High Court in Gombe protesting Senator Danjuma Goje’s trial who was at the court for continuation of his trial for alleged conspiracy and money laundering instituted against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The youths, who carried placards with inscriptions such as “Bring back our money”, “Senator Goje must go to jail”, “We support President Buhari’s anti-corruption fight”, “Goje used us for Kalare activities”, among many others.

The youths accused the senator of luring and indoctrinating them into wild political thugs’ group otherwise known as Kalare and therefore demanded that he (Goje) should return their money to facilitate their rehabilitation.

Their activities inside the courtroom attracted the attention of the presiding judge, Justice Babatunde Quadri, who adjourned hearing till November 25, 2015.

The prosecution, during the previous day’s proceedings, called three witnesses, including the Clerk of Gombe State House of Assembly, Shehu Mohammed Atiku, as Prosecution Witness Three (PW3.)

Atiku, who told the court that the first accused person forged the resolution of the House and collected N5 billion facility loans from Access Bank, further informed the court that the copy of the resolution presented to him for identification did not emanate from Gombe State House of Assembly and that he was not a signatory to the document.

Other witnesses who also testified were PW1, Solomon Okotie and Majella Deda who stood in for the state’s Solicitor-General as PW2.

Deda, based on the documents presented to him, testified that the UBEC/SUBEB contract for the supply of books was executed in four quarters and that they were all executed on January 17, 2011.

The Advanced Payment Guarantee (APG) issued by Zenith Bank in respect of the transaction also reflected the same date – January 17, 2011.