The trial of three Lebanese nationals before a Karu Chief Magistrate Court, Abuja, yesterday assumed a new dimension as he Federal Government withdrew the charges against the accused persons. The owner of Amigo Supermarket, Abuja, Mustapha Fawaz, along with Abdullahi Thaini and Talal Roda, all Lebanese, suspected to have imported arms cache into the country for alleged terrorist activities were arraigned by the State Security Services (SSS) on charges bordering on criminal conspiracy and unlawful importation of prohibited firearms.
When the matter came up, the prosecution counsel, Mr. Eric Osagie, told Chief Magistrate Yemi Oyeyipo that evidence arising from investigations in the matter, has shown that the offences for which the accused persons were alleged to have committed are outside the jurisdiction of the court. The prosecution counsel informed the court that the case file on the matter had been forwarded to the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN) for further advice. “To this end, we apply for the withdrawal of the First Information Report (FIR) from the court”, Mr. Osagie prayed the court.
Counsel to the suspects, Ahmed Raji (SAN) who agreed to the submission of the prosecution counsel that the court lacks the jurisdiction to entertain the matter, did not object to the application of withdrawal by the prosecution. He told the court that the Preliminary Objection brought before the court by the defense has been overtaken by event, following the withdrawal of the matter by the prosecution.
Chief Magistrate Yemi Oyeyipo granted the application for withdrawal of the matter as prayed by the prosecution and consequently struck out the case. He equally struck out the Preliminary Objection by the defense and ordered that the accused persons be discharged.“Having listened to the oral application of the prosecuting counsel and the submission of the defense counsel, I hereby grant as prayed that the charge filed on the basis of First Information Report (FIR) on June 5, 2013 is hereby struck out” Oyeyipo ordered and added that, “In the circumstance, the preliminary objection filed by the defense counsel is equally struck out and the accused persons are hereby discharged”.
The three accused persons were formally arraigned before the Karu Chief Magistrate Court on the 5th of May, 2013 on the basis of a First Information Report on allegations of criminal conspiracy and unlawful importation of prohibited firearms.
It would be recalled that SSS told a Federal High Court in Abuja, sitting before Justice Adeniyi Ademola that the accused persons belong to the Hezbollah military wing and disclosed that investigation into the incident had established a serious case of terrorism with international dimension.
The accused persons had, in a suit filed on their behalf by their counsel, Chief Robert Clark (SAN), asked the court to compel SSS, the Inspector General of Police and the Attorney General of the Federation to release them or charge them to court if they had committed any offence. The three Lebanese had been in custody of the SSS for over a month when an alleged bunker stockpiled with arms and ammunitions were found in their house in Kano and in the Wonderland Amusement Park in Abuja.
In the suit for enforcement of their fundamental rights to freedom of liberty, they claimed that the defendants breached their fundamental rights and the 1999 constitution with their endless detention without trial. They demanded N3 billion as compensation for hardships they suffered in the breach of their rights and their unlawful detention without trial. They have also prayed the court to stop the respondents from extraditing them except by a procedure permitted by law, that the court should declare their arrest and continued detention without trial by the SSS as “illegal, unlawful, unconstitutional, null, void and of no effect whatsoever” and prayed the court for an order directing their release and an order of perpetual injunction restraining the respondents from arresting or detaining or continuing to detain them except by a procedure permitted by law.
In a counter affidavit, the SSS through its counsel, Eric Osagie said that the applicants could not be released for security reasons, especially their alleged link with the military wing of Hezbollah, an international terrorism group. The counsel claimed that another major suspect in the illegalammunition stock piling was on the run and that releasing the three suspects will not only be premature but could jeopardize further investigation into their link with foreign terror group.
The trial Judge, Justice Ademola who adjourned the case till June 21, 2013 ordered that the three applicants be remanded in SSS custody to enable the Services continue their investigation.
http://peoplesdailyng.com/sss-withdraws-suit-over-courts-jurisdiction/
No comments:
Post a Comment