The Kano State Judicial Service Commission has dismissed recent reports that a court has cleared former local government commissioner Murtala Sule Garo of corruption allegations, insisting no such ruling was delivered this week.
Baba Jibo Ibrahim, spokesperson for the state judiciary, told reporters in Kano on Tuesday that the judgement being circulated online was actually handed down last year. He explained that Justice Sanusi Ado Ma'aji of High Court No. 15 on Miller Road had indeed struck out Suit No. K/133C/2024, but that decision was delivered months ago and is only now being recycled on social media.
The case was filed by the Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission against Garo, his relatives Mohammed and Mustapha Sule Garo, Isah Musa Kera, MJ Multipurpose Services Ltd. and A.U. Future Investment Ltd. Ibrahim stressed that no fresh hearing took place between Monday and Tuesday, adding that all judges are currently on annual vacation. He asked the public to ignore any suggestion that the defendants have been newly acquitted.
With the court on break, any further movement on the matter will have to wait until the legal term resumes.
Recycling an old court dismissal as breaking news is a classic tactic to whitewash reputations when no one is paying close attention—precisely what happened with Garo's team leaking last year's ruling while judges are on holiday.
Globally, such time-shifted spin is becoming the preferred PR move for politicians facing graft probes: wait for the courts to shut, dump archived "victory" headlines, and bank on public amnesia.
For Nigeria's states, where anti-corruption agencies already struggle with limited forensic capacity, the episode shows how easily a dormant case can be buried by a well-timed media blitz.
Watch whether the Kano anti-graft body files fresh charges before the new legal term begins; if not, the year-old dismissal may quietly become permanent.
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