The federal government for the second time, on Monday, opened its case against Aminu Ogwuche and five others charged with the 2014 Nyanya bombings.
When the matter was called the prosecuting counsel, David Kaswe, told the court of an earlier order allowing his witnesses to be protected.
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Mr Kaswe said that the only people allowed in the courtroom were lawyers directly involved in the case and accredited media organisations covering the court.
The trial judge, Peter Lifu, then called for a short stand down of the matter, and when the court resumed, he told the prosecution that he could not send the law students out since they were in court to learn.
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The witness was then brought into the court, and he shielded his face with a mask and a hood over his head.
Mr Ogwuche’s lawyer, Nureni Jimoh, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), protested the face shield but when the witness said that he was not comfortable testifying without the shield, he conceded to allow the trial progress.
Mr Kaswe then proceeded to lead the witness, identified as PW1, in evidence.
The prosecution witness who said he had worked with the State Security Service (SSS) for 23 years, told the court how the six accused persons were arrested and taken into custody.
He narrated how Mr Ogwuche, the 1st defendant, was arrested in Sudan and extradited to Nigeria.
“What led to his arrest was that in the course of the interview of the 3rd defendant, Mohammed Ishaq, described an individual whom he said was one of their supporters and who had provided them financial support, that is members of Boko Haram.
“The first defendant had been known to the SSS as a person of interest who had earlier been in custody having been deported from the United Kingdom,” the witness said.
However, Mr Ogwuche’s counsel raised an objection that the witness could not give oral evidence about his client’s deportation without presenting a document showing the purported deportation.
The prosecution prayed the court to ignore the objection on the grounds that once a witness was giving oral evidence of facts relevant to the case, it was admissible.
Drawing the court’s attention to Section 7 of the Evidence Act, the prosecutor submitted that the fact of deportation was key and relevant to the case.
After listening to the parties, the judge reserved ruling on the issue of deportation until the final judgement.
Continuing in his testimony, the witness told the court that as a person of interest to the SSS, the service had his profile and pictures.
“With the description provided by the 3rd defendant, we pulled pictures of suspects who matched that description and the 3rd defendant pointed to the picture of the 1st defendant and called his name as Aminu.
“He said he was sure Aminu was not Hausa but from the middle belt and that he usually visited them at a Mosque in Utako.
“He said that Aminu became close friends with one Ahmed Rufai Abubakar known as Dr Tsiga.”
The witness said the third defendant revealed that it was himself and Tsiga, who is still at large, that drove the gulf car that was laden with the improvised explosive device to the El Rufai Park and left it there overnight.
The witness also told the court that Ogwuche also made a statement revealing how he met the Boko Haram Sect led by Dr Tsiga at Utako.
“That he made enquiries about where to meet them and that he believed they were fighting a just cause for God.”
When the prosecutor asked for the statements made by the defendants which were with the court, they were not readily available.
The judge said this was because the prosecution had failed to give the registrar prior notice in order to enable the retrieval of the necessary evidence.
Mr Lifu subsequently adjourned the matter until 24 July for continuation of hearing.
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The News Agency of Nigeria, (NAN) reports that Ogwuche Ahmed Abubakar (aka Abu Ibrahim / Maiturare), Mohammed Ishaq, Ya’u Saidu (aka Kofar Rama), Anas Isah, and Adamu Yusuf are charged with allegedly detonating two bombs on 14 April 2014 at a motor park in Nyanya.
No fewer than 70 persons were killed, and several others were injured.
NAN also reports that the case, originally before Ahmed Mohammed, now elevated to the bench of the Court of Appeal. The case was reassigned to Mr Lifu following Mr Mohammed’s elevation to the Court of Appeal.
Proceedings restarted but the prosecution repeatedly failed to appear.
Mr Lifu delivered stern warnings, threatening that the case would be dismissed if the prosecution failed to attend court one last time.
(NAN)
