The All Progressives Congress candidate for the Kano Central Senatorial District, Abdusalam Zaura, also known as AA Zaura, was noticeably absent as his alleged $1.30m fraud case was being heard in court.

This came after the court received a statement from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission that AA Zaura, who had previously been granted bail from the commission’s custody, could not be located.

The EFCC informed the Kano Federal High Court that Zaura, the All Progressives Congress candidate for the senate in Kano Central who is currently on trial for an alleged $1.30m fraud, was nowhere to be found when the case was brought up on Monday.

The EFCC filed a charge of criminal conspiracy and obtaining money by false pretence to the tune of $1.3m against the defendant.

When the case came up for arraignment, prosecution counsel, Mrs Aisha Habib, told the court that the defendant was nowhere to be found for arraignment.

“This is a criminal case, and the defendant must be in court to answer his plea even if he is challenging the jurisdiction of the court to arraign him.”