By Agency Report
A judge of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on Friday, ejected lawyers, litigants, and journalists, from the proceedings of the trial of Tukur Mamu, who is being tried for terrorism-related offences.
The charges stemmed from his suspicious relationship with terrorists that carried out last year’s attack on a Kaduna-bound train.
At the resumed hearing on Friday, the prosecuting counsel from the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation, E. A Kaswe told the court that the prosecution witnesses were in court for the trial.
Mr Kaswe then urged the judge, Inyang Ekwo, to enforce the order granted to the prosecution on Wednesday when the matter came up.
“May I humbly ask the court to enforce the order granted for all parties not party to the suit to vacate the court,” he prayed.
Mr Ekwo then ordered everyone to vacate the court, except parties in the suit.
The development came in sharp contrast to the original application by the prosecution that journalists accredited to cover the court should be allowed to observe proceedings in the trial.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Mr Ekwo had, on Wednesday, granted an application by the prosecution for the protection of witnesses lined up for the case.
The judge granted the application following an ex-parte motion moved by Mr Kaswe to the effect.
Moving the ex-parte motion marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/96/2023, Mr Kaswe said the application was filed on 15 June.
He said the motion was brought pursuant to Section 36(4), (A), (B) of the Nigerian Constitution and Section 232 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015, including Section 73 (1), (2) (C) and (4) of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
In the motion, the FG prayed for four orders.
These include “An order of this Honourable Court excluding persons other than parties and their legal representatives at the hearing of the above-named charge except members of the accredited press.
“An order of this Honourable Court vacating the courtroom whenever the prosecution witnesses are coming to testify.
“An order of this Honourable Court shielding the physical identity of the prosecution witnesses by wearing facial masks and or the use of a screen whenever prosecution witnesses are testifying.
“An order of this Honourable Court directing the use of pseudo names by prosecution witnesses and deleting the real names and addresses of prosecution witnesses throughout the proceedings of this case.”
Case
NAN reports that Mr Mamu, a former terrorists’ negotiator, was, on 21 March, arraigned by the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation on ten counts of terrorism financing, especially on the recent Abuja-Kaduna train attack.
He, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The court, on 27 April, also declined to grant him bail on the grounds of ill health.
The judge held that the grounds were not cogent enough to grant bail to the defendant facing terrorism-related charges.
He also cited Mr Mamu’s failure to debunk the claims in the counter-affidavit to oppose his bail application by the State Security Services (SSS), the agency keeping him in custody.
Mr Mamu was arrested on 6 September 2022 on his way to Saudi Arabia for Lesser Hajj and was detained at Cairo International Airport before being repatriated to Nigeria.
In the charge, the prosecution accused him of aiding and abetting Boko Haram terrorism attacks against innocent Nigerians.
He was accused of collecting sums of money in various currencies on behalf of Boko Haram terrorists from the families of the train attack.
He was said to have collected $420 000 from families of the attack and another N21 million from other families of the victims of the train attack.
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He is also accused of concealing the terrorism funds in his Kaduna residence in violation of provisions of the Terrorism Prevention, Prohibition Act.
He denied all the charges when they were read to him.
(NAN)
