A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has dismissed the 50-count criminal charge brought against former Governor of Bayelsa State, Mr Timipre Sylva and four others by the federal government.
Justice Adeniyi Ademola, who dismissed the charge, held that the action of the federal government through the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in the endless prosecution of the former governor constituted a gross abuse of court processes that must not be encouraged.
The judge, while ruling on a preliminary objection filed by Sylva against the fresh charge which is the third in the series preferred against him, said that it has been proved beyond reasonable doubt that the accused person was first put to trial in 2012 and later in 2013 and now 2015 on the same subject matter.
Justice Ademola said that the action of the EFCC constituted a desperate and clear case of bias and harassment by seeking to get the accused persons convicted at all cost.
The judge specifically said that the former governor was arraigned before Justice Evoh Chukwu of the Federal High Court Abuja where the charge was struck out in 2012 and later re-arraigned him on the same issue before Justice Ahmed Mohammed who in 2013 dismissed the same charge against the accused persons.
