Court, yesterday, slated June 21 to
determine whether the federal government
has adduced sufficient evidence to warrant
the prosecution of the alleged mastermind
of the Christmas day bomb blast that killed
about 44 persons and wounded 75 others at
St. Theresa's Catholic Church at Madalla,
Niger State, in 2011.
Justice Adeniyi Ademola fixed the
date after the accused person and
the federal government adopted
written addresses yesterday.
Kabiru Abubakar Dikko, alias Kabiru Sokoto The
accused person, Kabiru Umar, a.k.a Kabiru
Sokoto, had through his team of lawyers led by
Mr. Hassan Lukman, maintained before the high
court that he has no case to answer, insisting
that the federal government failed to establish a
prima-facie criminal case capable of warranting
his conviction.
While praying the court to discharge and accquit
him from the 2-count terrorism charge that was
preferred against him by the government,
contended that none of the six witnesses that
testified against him, was able to establish a
nexus linking him to the commission of the
alleged offence.
Arguing through his lawyers, Sokoto, in his no-
case-submission, further queried the propriety of
allowing him to pass through the rigours of trial
"in view of the fact that the prosecution has failed
to tender any evidence connecting the accused
to the alleged offence."
In such criminal trial, a no case submission is
made when an accused person believes that the
prosecution failed to prove the ingredients of the
offence for which he is charged or that the
evidence adduced in court was such that a judge
cannot rely upon to pass a sentence.
Sokoto was said to be a kingpin of the Boko
Haram Islamic sect was initially docked before the
high court on May 20.
Aside allegation that he trained over 500 men on
how to manufacture and detonate Improvised
Explosive Devices, IEDs, the federal government,
alleged that he had prior knowledge that the sect
planned to bomb the church on Christmas day
but failed to disclose it to law enforcement officer
as soon as reasonable practicable.
He was said to have between 2007 and 2012, at
Mabira Sokoto, Sokoto state, facilitated the
commission of terrorist act including planting
bombs at the Police headquarters and some
government organizations in the state.
FG told the court that the accused person
instituted his terrorist training camp at Abaji, a
suburb town in Abuja.
Though he was previously arrested by the Police
in Abuja on January 14, 2012, he was however
declared missing two days later.
His mysterious escape from custody had
culminated to the sack of the erstwhile Inspector
General of Police, Mr. Hafiz Ringim and former
Commission of Police in-charge of the Federal
Capital Territory, Mallam Zakari Biu who was out
rightly dismissed from the Force.
He was subsequently re-arrested on February 10,
2012.
It will be recalled that the last prosecution witness
informed the court that Sokoto had confessed
that one of the recognized leader of the sect,
Abubakar Shekau, told him that only members of
the sect that have been initiated into the
"Shurah" cadre, are allowed to know the ideology
behind the current insurgency in the Northern
part of the country.
The witness told the court that Sokoto had
disclosed that whereas members of the "Shurah"
which he belongs to, plan and mastermind
attacks, other lay members are recruited to
execute terrorist agenda of the sect.
However, Sokoto, through his lawyer, faulted the
testimony of the masked witness, maintaining
that he used the Hausa word "Anche" in his
statement, a word he said means "they said."
He told the court that he was only referring to
what he was told by those affiliated to the sect.
One of the witnesses had earlier narrated before
the court how a donation of N40million divided
the sect
According to the witness, Sokoto had in a
statement he made on January 14, 2012,
confessed that out of the said N40million which
he said was received from another terrorist group
in Algeria, he got the sum of N500, 000, being
the recognized Governor of Sokoto State in the
hierarchy of the group.
He told the court that the accused person
admitted that he used his share of the money
and bought Quran and other Islamic religious
books, even as he allegedly volunteered the
names of two members of the sect that bombed
Catholic church at Madalla, Niger State, on
Christmas day.
The witness further told the court that Sokoto
gave the names of the two perpetrators as Bashir
Mohammed and Muhktar Kafanchan, saying the
federal government is currently on the trail of the
said culprits.
Besides, the witness who was simply identified as
"Mr ABC" testified that the accused person
confessed that it was not suicide bombers that
attacked the church, but that the bombs were
detonated from a car that was parked near the
church.
Likewise, another witness, "Mr DEF", narrated
how Sokoto hid behind a wardrobe on February
10, 2012, a day he was re-arrested at Sabongida
in Taraba state, few days after he escaped from
police custody in Abuja.
The witness who is an operative of the
Department of State Service, DSS, told the court
that upon his arrest, Sokoto was found with a
Nokia phone and six different Sim cards.
Admin pin:21B02356
No comments:
Post a Comment