NIGERIA COURT ORDERS GOVT TO CLOSE CASE AGAINST UN BOMBING SUSPECTS

Lagos, Nigeria, 19 Muharram 1435/23 November 2013 (MINA) – A Nigerian court on Friday ordered a government prosecution team to throw out its case against four suspects accused of involvement in the 2011 bombing of a United Nations building in Abuja.

“This court cannot continue to take stories from the government prosecution any longer,” Justice Gladys Olotu of the Federal High Court said in a ruling. “I therefore make an order that the prosecution should close her case against the suspects.”

The order suggests that the court was faced with a lack of evidence incriminating the suspects, Anadolu Agency quoted by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

Also Read: Rohingya Council Refutes No ‘Ethnic Cleansing' Claim

At least 23 people, mostly UN workers, were killed in the attack, which was the first such attack by the militant Boko Haram group on an international organization.

The suspects, who face four counts of terrorism for their suspected involvement in the bombing, are Salisu Mohamed, Inusa Mukailu, Danzumi Haruna and Abdussalami Adam.

Justice Olotu said the case had suffered repeated adjournments because of the “shoddy manner [in which] the prosecution has handled the case, while the court has continued to wait for the government team to present their witnesses.”

At a Friday hearing, the team failed to present its witness, a police officer, provoking the presiding judgeto say that the team’s request in May for acceleratedtrial proceedings lacked justification.

Also Read: HRW URGES NEW AFGHAN GOVERNMENT TO FIGHT SEXUAL HARASSMENT

“This trial had been stalled on several occasions because the prosecuting counsel failed to provide the material evidence needed to prosecute the case,” Justice Olotu asserted.

Another witness promised by the prosecution never showed up, the judge said, pointing to several adjournments made in order that the court might hear his testimony.

The defense team is expected to enter a no-guilty pleaon a date the court will set on Friday evening, in hopes of securing an acquittal for the defendants in light of the prosecution’s uneven performance. (T/P09/P04).

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)