The Kano High Court has issued an interim order banning the Inspector General of Police and other authorities from inviting, arresting or harassing Muhuyi Magaji Rimingado, the chairman of the Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission, in Kano State.

While the Kano State Attorney General, the Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission and Mr Rimingado are the plaintiffs in the suit, the defendants include the Nigeria Police Force, the Inspector General of Police, the Assistant Inspector General of Police Zone One, the Kano State Commissioner of Police, ASP Ahmed Bello and Bala Muhammad Inuwa.

The order, delivered by Justice Sunusi Ado Ma’aji on Monday, read, “The defendants/respondents, either by themselves, their agents, officers, privies, representatives, or assigns, are hereby restrained from inviting, arresting, detaining, or harassing the officers of the second plaintiff/applicant or interfering with the rights of the second and third plaintiffs/applicants generally.”

The court also restrained the defendants and their agents from taking any actions that could interfere with the rights of the second and third plaintiffs.

The interim order came after the police had debunked the claim that it arrested Mr Rimingado, clarifying that the force only invited him to address a petition against him.

Peoples Gazette reported that the Kano anti-corruption boss had revealed that forensic analysis of the viral video showing ex-Kano governor Abdullahi Ganduje pocketing dollar bills — presumably bribe — found that it was genuine and not doctored.

The animosity between the two men dates back to 2021 when Mr Ganduje suspended Mr Rimingado through the state assembly. The allegations against him were unclear, but he was accused of rejecting an accountant sent to the agency.

Two years after his suspension, Mr Rimingado was ultimately fired by Mr Ganduje in January 2023, a decision that the embattled Kano anti-graft chair successfully contested in court. Mr Rimingado was, however, reinstated by Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) after the 2023 elections.

In an interview on Channels TV on Monday, Mr Rimingado said there is no going back on the trial of Mr Ganduje over alleged bribery and diversion of public funds.

“We are prosecuting him in person. In fact, we have been on this investigation since 2021. I was made to leave and went through tribulations, including arrest, detention, assault, and humiliation. When I came back, I continued from where I stopped. So, I am not witch-hunting anybody,” Mr Rimingado insisted.