The trial judge in the case involving a Boko Haram suspect, Kabiru Umar (aka Kabiru Sokoto) has queried the authenticity of the report that members of the Amnesty Committee met with the accused in prison.
Umar’s lawyer, Sherrif Okoh also criticized the claim, saying that his client was not only in court on the day the committee claimed to have met the suspect and others, he is not being held in prison.
Justice Adeniyi Ademola and Okoh expressed their views at the resumption of Umar’s trial, the alleged mastermind of the Christmas Day bombing of St Theresa Catholic Church Madalla, Niger State.
The Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of Security Challenges in the North, also known as Amnesty Committee.
Members had said recently that they met with members of the Boko Haram sect; including Kabiru Sokoto and that the meeting took place at the Kuje Minimum Security Prison, Abuja where members of the sect are being held.
The judge said he was surprised to read reports that the Amnesty Committee said it visited and held meeting with Kabiru Sokoto at Kuje prison and sought to know if the report was true.
“The accused person is supposed to be under the custody of the State Security Services (SSS) in fact he was in court from morning to evening. But the next day, the press reported that the Amnesty Committee said they visited and held meeting with Kabiru Sokoto in Kuje prison, this is funny, Justice Adeniyi noted.
The defence lawyer, who spoke with reporters after the court proceedings said: “Our client has confided in us that he never met with the Amnesty Committee. Even on the said date of the purported meeting, Kabiru Sokoto was before Justice Ademola Adeniyi. So, we wonder where they met him” Umar’s lawyer said.
The lawyer argued that his client has been under the custody of the SSS and expressed surprise that a high profile committee like the Amnesty Committee would come out and tell Nigerians that they met with the accused person at Kuje prison.
“These members of the Amnesty Committee have been brandishing lies, it is very wrong of them to come and say they held meeting with Kabiru Sokoto; in fact, Kabiru has been under the SSS custody, he was not in Kuje prison; so it was a pure lie for a Committee of respected, eminent and dignified persons to say they held a meeting with our client” Okoh said.
At the trial a prosecuting witness, identified as ABC told the court that the suspect had mentioned to him the names, Bashir Mohammed and Mukhtari Kafanchan as the people that carried out the Christmas Day blast.
The witness, who was cross-examined by Okoh, said the blast was not a suicide bombing but a coordinated attack, which was perpetrated with the knowledge of the accused person.
“The Madalla blast was not a executed by a suicide bomber. It emanated from a car parked at the passage way of the Church, which was detonated. “That was actually what happened and there were no charred remains of persons found in the car after the blast that suggested it was a suicide attack.”
He said the accused person did not tell him that he parked the car. He maintained the accused person had knowledge of the said vehicle.
The witness, who wore mask, also said, Umar, while being interrogated, said that the split in the hierarchy of the Boko Haram sect was caused by a N40 million donation and from which he allegedly got the sum of N500,000.00, with which he bought Quran and other books.
Another prosecuting witness, identified as DEF, an SSS official, told the court how he led a team that rearrested Kabiru Sokoto in Sabon-Gida, Taraba State on February 10, 2012. He was led in evidence by prosecution lawyer, Mrs Chioma Onuegbu.
Under cross-examination by Okoh, the witness said he found one Nokia phone and six SIM cards with the accused man at the time he was re-arrested.
The trial resumed on Friday.
