Yesterday, protests followed the Federal Government’s withdrawal of the N446.3bn theft charge it instituted against Mohammed Abacha,   son of a former Head of State, the late Gen. Sani Abacha.

Those who flayed the action which took place at the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Abuja, were prominent Lagos lawyers – Femi Falana, Jiti Ogunye, Fred Agbaje and Femi Aborisade – as well as the Chairman of the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, Mr. Debo Adeniran; and his Civil Society Network Against Corruption counterpart, Mr. Lanre Suraj.

While some of the lawyers argued that the government action had serious negative implications on the country’s anti-graft campaign, Adeniran and Suraj said it had a political undertone.

The government had preferred   nine counts of stealing against Mohammed in February 2014.

It had accused him   of unlawfully receiving about N446.3bn allegedly stolen from its coffers between 1995 and 1998.

But on Wednesday, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Adoke, asked Justice Mamman Kolo of the FCT High Court to strike out the charges on the grounds of “fresh facts” that just emerged concerning the case.

Efforts to arraign Mohammed on two previous occasions were unsuccessful because of his repeated absence from court.

But he was present in court on Wednesday when a private prosecuting counsel,   Daniel Enwelum, informed the court of Adoke’s instruction to discontinue the case.

Applying to court for the withdrawal of the case, Enwelum said, “I have been instructed by the AGF and Minister of Justice to withdraw the charges as presently filed before this court, because there are fresh facts and documents available to him.

“In this circumstance, he instructed me to file a notice of withdrawal without prejudice to future cause of action to be taken by his (AGF’s) office.

“In the light of that, I have filed a notice of withdrawal dated June 17, 2014. I humbly apply to withdraw the charges accordingly.”

Mohammed‘s lawyer, Abdullahi Haruna, did not oppose the application for withdrawal.

Justice Kolo subsequently   made an order striking out the charges against the accused.

In the nine counts, the Federal Government accused Mohammed of “dishonestly receiving stolen property” and “voluntarily assisted in concealing money.”

The charge replaced a previous one of 121 counts, in which Mohammed   was charged with Atiku Bagudu. The government   excluded Bagudu from the fresh charge, leaving only Mohammed.

According to the charge, marked CR.21-24/2008, the stolen money allegedly received by Mohammed included $141,100,000 and $384,353,000 made up of cash and travellers’ cheques.

But   Falana said the withdrawal of “such grave corruption charges has serious implications for prosecuting anti-graft cases.”