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The federal government, on Monday, arraigned nine suspected terrorists who allegedly attacked Yelwata in Benue State where about 150 persons were killed in June last year.
The Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, who led the prosecution team, told trial judge Joyce Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court that 57 amended counts had been filed against the defendants.
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Mr Fagbemi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), informed the court that though 10 defendants were earlier listed in the amended charge, he sought the order of court striking out the name of the 6th defendant, Yakubu Mamman.
The defence lawyers, including Ibrahim Angulu, also a SAN; A. I. Kaura and Adamu Abdullahi, did not oppose AGF’s application and Mr Mamman’s name was struck out from the charges.
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Mr Fagbemi also applied that the initial case filed 10 September 2025, where eight defendants were listed be substituted with the amended charges filed on 20 January. The amended case is marked FHC/ABJ/CR/471/2025.
With no objection from the defence, the judge struck out the earlier charges as requested by the prosecution.
The AGF then applied that the 57 counts be read to the defendants to take their plea.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the suspected terrorists were alleged to have carried out the attack on 13 June 2025, where many houses were burnt down and about 150 people were massacred, while others sustained various degrees of injuries.
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The nine suspects include Ardo Lawal Mohammed, Muhammadu Saidu, Haruna Abdullahi, Yakubu Adamu, Muhammed Musa, Abubakar Adamu, Shaibu Ibrahim, Saleh Mohammed, Bako Jibrin.
A court official was reading the 57 counts to the defendants as of the time of filing this report.
(NAN)
