Justice John Tsoho of the Federal High
Court in Abuja, on Tuesday, disqualified himself from further presiding
over the trial of eight defendants accused of acts of terrorism,
hostage taking and murder of a total of nine expatriates...
Justice Tsoho, in a bench ruling,
withdrew from the case and ordered the file to be returned to the Acting
Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Abdu Kafarati, for
reassignment to another judge.
This followed the allegation by six of the eight defendants that the judge was bias against them.
Speaking through their respective
lawyers in court on Tuesday, the six defendants said they had lost
confidence in Justice Tsoho following the judge’s ruling of April 25,
2017, reversing his earlier decision that they be remanded in prison and
that they be held in the custody of the Department of State Services
throughout the period of their trial.
Justice Tsoho had on March 14 after the
defendants pleaded not guilty to the 11 counts preferred against them,
ordered the defendants to be remanded in Kuje Prison, but again on April
25, upon an application by the prosecution, ordered that they remained
in the custody of the DSS.
The defence lawyers, after meeting with
the six defendants for about 15 minutes as directed by the judge on
Tuesday, also said that their clients were complaining of harsh
conditions in the DSS custody, failing health and deprivation of access
to their family members.
Some of the defendants were also said to have claimed that their family members did not know their whereabouts.
Those defendants who sought the transfer
of the case to another judge were, an alleged leader of a splinter
group of Boko Haram, Mohammed Usman (a.k.a. Khalid Albarnawi); his
“second wife,” Halima Haliru, and four suspected members of the group.
The rest of the defendants who expressed
lack of confidence in Justice Tsoho were, Mohammed Saleh, Umar Bello
(a.k.a. Abu Azzan), Mohammed Salisu (a.k.a. Datti) and Yakubu Haliru
(a.k.a Bello Maishayi).
The two other defendants who insisted
that the case should continue before the judge were Mohammed Sani
(a.k.a. Ukasha/Dan/Asabe/Yellow) and Abubakar Habibu (a.k.a. Habibu
Sahara).
With the exception of Haliru, who was
accused of aiding acts of terrorism, the rest of the seven defendants
were said to be members of a splinter group of Boko Haram, known as Jama’atu Ansarul Muslimina Fi Biladis Sudan a.k.a. ANSARU.
They were accused of, among other
terrorism offences, taking hostage and murder of nine British and
Italian expatriates between 2011 and 2013 in Sokoto, Kebbi, Bauchi,
Borno, Gombe and other states in the North.
Following the arraignment of the
defendants on March 14, and subsequent re-arraignment following an
amendment of the list of defendants, bringing the number of the
defendants from seven to eight, the court had fixed Tuesday for
commencement of trial.
The lead prosecuting counsel, Labaran, had informed the court of his team’s preparedness to commence trial.
But following complaints by some of the
defendants, the judge had to give a 15-minute break to allow the
defendants to brief their respective lawyers.
Speaking for the first, fourth and the
sixth defendants (Usman, Saleh and Haliru), Mr. Samuel Attah, said,
“They said the court ruled before that they should be taken to prison
and the DSS violated the order and refused to transfer them to prison
before the court, again, ordered that they should remain in DSS custody.
“They said they have no confidence in this honourable court to continue this case.”
Attah said despite informing them that
the transfer of the case would imply that the case would start afresh,
“they said their lives are more important to them than the delay in
their trial.”
Also speaking for the fifth defendant
(Bello), Mr. Elisha Oloruntoba, said “his complaint is that his health
is deteriorating day by day and that he was never asthmatic before he
got to the custody of the DSS but he is now asthmatic.”
Oloruntoba also said his client
complained that the DSS personnel never allowed him to contact his
relatives on phone despite granting such courtesy to many other
detainees.
Mr. Aliyu Momoh, who spoke for Nuhu and
Haliru (the seventh and eighth defendants respectively), also noted that
Haliru (who was until Tuesday being represented by the lawyer defending
the first, fourth and sixth defendants), was not part of the meeting
where the decision to seek the transfer of the case to another judge was
taken.
Meanwhile, counsel for the second
defendant (Sani), Mr. Leonard Obiji, and that of the third defendant
(Habibu), Nathaniel Adejinle, said their clients had expressed
confidence in the judge, and pleaded that their trial be allowed to
continue before the same judge.
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