A Federal high court in Abuja on Thursday, struck out corruption charges filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) against former governor of Bayelsa State, Timipre Sylva.
The EFCC had slammed Sylva with a 50-count charge for allegedly stealing N19.2 billion.
Justice Adeniyi Ademola dismissed the charges, ruling that the case was an abuse of court process.
Ademola stated that the case had earlier been struck out by two judges of federal high courts.
He also ruled that the court lacked the jurisdiction to hear the case against Sylva.
Sylva is the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress in Bayelsa.
Last June, Justice Ahmed Mohammed, a justice of the federal high court, Abuja, struck out a 42-count charge of stealing which the EFCC brought against Sylva.
But the EFCC later modified the charges, adding eight new charges, before presenting it to Ademola.
Ademola pointed out that the charges were the same, describing the case as a “regurgitation of a settled matter”.
