Police drop murder charges against House of Reps leader Alhassan Doguwa due to a lack of evidence

HOUSE of Representatives majority leader Hon Alhassan Ado Doguwa has been cleared of murder charges by the Department of Public Prosecution (DPP) of the Kano State Ministry of Justice after it was adjudged that there was insufficient evidence against him.

In March, the Kano State Police Command arraigned Hon Doguwa before a magistrate court over an alleged of criminal conspiracy, culpable homicide and causing grievous hurt on innocent person during Nigeria's general elections on February 25. A candidate in those polls, Hon Doguwa was standing as the candidate for the Doguwa/Tudunwada Federal Constituency and had been declared the winner by Inec.

He was arrested shortly after voting was concluded, however, with the Kano State Police Command saying it received complaints over the gruesome murder of three persons and causing grievous injury to eight others in Tudunwada Local Government Area on Sunday February 26  while the collation of election results was ongoing. After refusing a police invitation to come and answer questions about his role in the affair, Hon Doguwa was arrested by detectives at the Aminu Kano International Airport in Kano.

To add to his woes, the Independent National Electoral Commission stated that the declaration of results done at Doguwa/Tundunwada Federal Constituency was done under duress. It has thus voided the election of Hon Doguwa as the duly elected lawmaker to represent the constituency in the National Assembly.

However, things now appear to be looking up for Hon Doguwa as the DPP said there is no substantive evidence found from the police case files to charge him with culpable homicide. Musa Lawan, the Kano State attorney-general and justice commissioner, said that available evidence contained in the police case diary indicated no sufficient evidence to link Hon Doguwa with the said offences despite contradictory comments of witnesses against the suspect.

He added: “Based on the foregoing facts and observations, we are of the opinion that we cannot substantiate charges of criminal conspiracy, mischief by fire and culpable homicide against the Doguwa. This is because we cannot find sufficient evidence to link with the said offences considering the fact that we are faced with so many inculpatory and exculpatory evidence for and against him and the statements of those that implicated him were full of contradictions.”

Mr Lawan added that apart from the contradictory comments, there was no medical evidence to prove that the act or omission of Hon Doguwa caused the death of the deceased persons. As a result, all the charges against the lawmaker will now be dropped.