Rita Odafe
Farah Dagogo
Farah Dagogo, a former member of the National Assembly, has been acquitted of criminal charges by a High Court in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. He was facing charges brought against him by the Rivers State Government.
Dagogo, who is an ally of the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the 2023 elections, Atiku Abubakar, previously represented the Degema-Bonny Constituency in the House of Representatives.
His arrest took place on April 28, 2022, in Port Harcourt when he was appearing for screening as a PDP Governorship aspirant at the party’s South-South zonal secretariat in Port Harcourt.
The arrest followed an accusation by the then Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, who alleged that Dagogo was involved in sponsoring thugs and cultists to disrupt the PDP screening exercise for National Assembly and State Assembly aspirants in Port Harcourt.
Dagogo denied the allegations, claiming they were fabricated to hinder his governorship aspirations. He had been on bail since June 2022 after spending 63 days in detention.
Justice Chinwendu Nworgu of the Port Harcourt High Court, in ruling on suit no PHC/1440/CR/2022- ‘The State v Hon Farah Dagogo’, criticized the lack of diligence in prosecution and acquitted Dagogo of all charges.
Following the ruling, Dagogo’s lead counsel, Sir Cosmas Enweluzo, SAN, stated that the case had concluded and Dagogo was now free of all legal burdens concerning the matter.
Enweluzo clarified that any further legal action would be considered double jeopardy as the court’s decision had definitively put an end to the case.
