Five supporters of Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara are on trial for terrorism. The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Prince Lateef Fagbemi SAN, has asked the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to hand off the case.
After declaring that he would oversee the trial, the AGF gave the IGP instructions to forward the case file to his office at the Federal Ministry of Justice so that the indictment against the defendants could be reviewed.
At the Federal High Court in Abuja, where the five defendants are on trial for their alleged collaboration in the burning down of the Rivers State House of Assembly and the murder of a Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Fagbemi revealed this on Tuesday.
During the trial that resumed on Tuesday before Justice Mobolaji Olajuwon, the AGF, via his attorney David Kaswe, told the court that he had not actually taken over the case because the IGP had not yet followed his order to give him the case file.
He then requested a postponement so that the Police Chief could follow his directive, review the case file, and decide how to proceed.
Simon Lough, SAN, the attorney for the IGP, claimed that an administrative bottleneck was to blame for the delay when Justice Olajuwon questioned him about why the case file had not been sent to the AGF.
Nonetheless, the Judge advised that the IGP follow the AGF directive.
Judge Olajuwon then postponed the trial’s resumption until May 7, 2024.
The judge ruled that the five defendants’ remand should continue at Kuje jail in Abuja.
Recall that the trial was also postponed on Tuesday, March 20, due to the tight security surrounding Nnamdi Kanu’s march to the Federal High Court in Abuja, the leader of the Biafra nation.
Due to movement limitations imposed by Department of State Service (DSS) personnel installing checkpoints, which prevented attorneys from accessing the court, the trial had come to a standstill.
The Inspector General of Police (IGP) has charged five persons: Osiga Donald, Ochueja Thankgod, Kenneth Goodluck Kpasa, Prince Lukman Oladele, and Chime Eguma Ezebalike. All five men are accused of being terrorists.
On January 25, the IGP attacked the terrorist allegations against them for allegedly breaking into, damaging, and burning down the Rivers State House of Assembly the previous year.
They were charged with carrying out the claimed terrorist acts in the aftermath of the political unrest that shook Port Harcourt in October of last year.
Police claimed in the charges against them, which were filed under the file number FHC/ABJ/CR/25/2024, that in addition to setting fire to the State House of Assembly, some of them also murdered five police informants and Bako Agbashim, the Superintendent of Police (SP), in the state’s Ahoada community.
The following individuals are said to have been murdered by the defendants: Saturday Edi, Charles Osu, Ogbonna Eja, Idaowuka Felix, and Paul Victor Chibuogu.
Additionally, they are suspected of wreaking havoc on the state’s citizens and their business endeavors by means of a number of cult organizations, including the Supreme Viking Confraternity, Degbam, Iceland, and Greenland.
They are specifically accused of planning to carry out acts of terrorism on October 29, 2023, at Moscow Road in Port Harcourt, by deliberately attacking, destroying, and setting fire to the Rivers State House of Assembly. This offense is punishable under section 26 of the Terrorism Prevention and Prohibition Act 2022.
Despite their denial of the charges, the defendants were remanded in Kuje Prison in Abuja because they were unable to convince the judge to grant them release given the seriousness of the charges against them.
They are currently attempting to contest the court’s territorial authority to hear the charge against them as well as the validity of the terrorism charges against them.
