A Federal High Court sitting in Kano, yesterday, dismissed the bribery charges against Governor Abdullahii Ganduje.
The presiding judge, Obiora Egwuatu, cleared him of the charges for lack of evidence.
Bulama Bukarti, a lawyer, had approached the court to issue an order compelling the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate Ganduje for alleged bribery.
This followed series of video published by Daily Nigerian, which showed the governor reportedly receiving bribes from contractors.
The newspaper had reported that the governor received bales of dollars as kickbacks from contractors.
Although the House of Assembly opened an investigation into the matter, it suspended the probe after another court ruled that it had no powers to investigate such criminal matter.
In an application filed before the court, the lawyer sought an order mandating the anti-graft commission to investigate the bribery allegations against the governor.
He specifically requested the court to compel the anti-graft agency to provide report of a forensic investigation of the videos and to act upon it.
But the presiding judge dismissed the application, after ruling that the evidence deposed to as affidavit must be cogent and verifiable.
He also held that nothing proves that the EFCC has conducted such forensic analysis on the videos, and any such report should first be forwarded to the house of assembly panel originally set up to look into the matter.
