The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN) has said that no names were dropped in the Taraba kidnap kingpin, Bala Hamisu, also known as Wadume’s case.
There has been outrage for dropping the names of 10 soldiers named as accomplices in the kidnapping charges involving an alleged kingpin, Wadume.
The amendment to the charges announced at the Federal High Court in Abuja by the prosecuting counsel, Shuaibu Labaran, on Monday, came days after the AGF took over the case from the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, on June 3, 2020.
The soldiers, whose names were removed in the amended charges are Captain Tijjani Balarabe, who allegedly ordered the killing of the policemen who went to arrest Wadume; Staff Sgt. David Isaiah; Sgt. Ibrahim Mohammed; Corporal Bartholomew Obanye; Private Mohammed Nura; Lance Corporal Okorozie Gideon; Corporal Markus Michael; L/Corporal Nvenaweimoeimi Akpagra; Staff Sgt. Abdullahi Adamu, and Private Ebele Emmanuel.
Names of a policeman, ASP Aondona Iorbee, and one Ahmad Suleiman (aka Dan Ball), were also struck off the charge.
But Malami denied that any name was dropped in the charge.
According to him, what his office did was to severe the charges in view of the unavailability of the soldiers who in their own case need to be released by the military authorities in view of the fact that they were perhaps undergoing military processes before their release.
“The interest of justice requires and legitimately allowed for segmenting the case in the interest of speedy trail.
“It is in the interest of justice to accord speedy trial to the accused persons that are readily available to stand trial as against delaying at the expense of other co-accused persons who in the peculiarity of this case are not available for immediate arraignment.
“It is a common practice that absence of a co-accused will not constitute impediment to the progress of a case. Those available are entitled to fair trial and have their case determined within a reasonable time as a matter of Constitutional rights. More so, looking at the fact that the available accused persons are not to be held responsible for the unavailability of the co-accused persons.
“The Office of the Attorney-Genral of the Federation and Minister of Justice has taken steps to procure the availability of the co-accused and shall have them arraigned immediately upon procuring their availability by the military authorities,†a statement by Umar Gwandu, Special Assistant on Media to the minister said Friday night.
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