A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory has ordered the arrest of former Minister of Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs, Kabiru Tanimu Turaki, after he failed to appear for arraignment in a criminal case filed by the Inspector-General of Police. The bench warrant was issued on Thursday, March 26, 2026, by Justice Peter Kekemeke after the court found that Turaki had no sufficient justification for his continued absence.
The case is not, at least from the charge now before the FCT High Court, a fresh corruption prosecution. It is a one-count criminal charge alleging that Turaki gave false information to the police through a petition dated October 5, 2022. The charge, marked FCT/HC/CR/647/25, was filed on November 15, 2025, and says he allegedly supplied false information to the Inspector-General of Police within the jurisdiction of the court, an offence said to be punishable under Section 140 of the Penal Code Law.
The court’s latest decision followed a long chain of adjournments, objections and procedural disputes. On January 29, 2026, when the matter was before Justice K.N. Ogbonnaya, Turaki’s arraignment did not go ahead because his legal team said he had written a petition to the Chief Judge of the FCT High Court seeking transfer of the case to another judge over what they described as confidence concerns. The prosecution opposed that move and argued that a criminal proceeding could not be halted merely because a defendant petitioned against a judge.
At that January hearing, Justice Ogbonnaya agreed with the prosecution’s general position that filing a petition against a judge does not automatically stop proceedings unless there is a written directive from the Chief Judge. She also indicated that Turaki, as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, ought to know the weight of an order directing him to appear in court. Still, she exercised restraint at that point and declined to issue an arrest warrant immediately, instead adjourning the matter to March 5, 2026.
The file was later moved from Justice Ogbonnaya to Justice Kekemeke after Turaki’s petition challenging the handling of the matter. That transfer did not end the dispute. When the case resumed before Justice Kekemeke, the police prosecution again pressed the court to invoke Section 143 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, on the grounds that Turaki had repeatedly failed to present himself for arraignment. The court then issued the bench warrant after expressing frustration with what it viewed as continued non-compliance.
This means the immediate legal issue before the court is not whether Turaki is guilty of the allegation in the charge, but whether he can be compelled to appear and take his plea. In Nigerian criminal procedure, arraignment is a foundational step because the charges must be read to the defendant in open court and the defendant must personally enter a plea. A persistent refusal or failure to attend can trigger coercive measures, including a warrant of arrest. That is effectively where the case now stands.
The development is politically significant because Turaki is not just a former minister; he has also recently been identified in reports as a factional national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party. Both Vanguard and TheCable described him in that capacity in reporting the arrest order, indicating that the criminal process is unfolding while he remains involved in a contested space within opposition politics. That intersection between court action and active political positioning is one reason the case is drawing wider attention
It is also important to separate this case from Turaki’s older legal troubles. In 2020, the EFCC arraigned him alongside another individual and two companies before the Federal High Court in Abuja on 16 counts involving alleged multi-million-naira fraud. Channels Television reported at the time that the case concerned allegations linked to his period in federal office, and that Turaki pleaded not guilty. That earlier EFCC matter is distinct from the current FCT High Court charge over alleged false information to police.
So, the full picture surrounding the current arrest order is this: the court is dealing with a one-count accusation arising from a 2022 petition to the police; the charge was filed in November 2025; Turaki did not appear on earlier dates fixed for arraignment; his lawyers challenged the judge and sought transfer of the matter; the original judge postponed, rather than immediately issuing a warrant; the case was reassigned; and the new judge has now taken the harder step of ordering his arrest to ensure he is brought before the court.
Turaki has not yet taken a plea in this particular case, so he remains legally untried on the substance of the allegation. The court order does not amount to a conviction. It is an enforcement measure designed to compel attendance after what the prosecution described as repeated failure to obey court process. Until he is brought before the court and formally arraigned, the substantive dispute over the 2022 petition remains unresolved.
For now, the most consequential detail is the court’s message: status as a former minister and senior lawyer does not exempt a defendant from appearing in person when ordered. Whether Turaki challenges the bench warrant, appears voluntarily, or is produced by law enforcement will likely determine the next stage of the case.
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Reported by: L. Imafidon | Edited by: Jevaun Rhashan
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