FOR the “unavoidable” delay of the trial of Charles Okah and three others believed to be responsible for the October 1, 2010 twin bomb blasts in Abuja, which marred the country’s 50th Independence Anniversary celebration, the trial Judge, Justice Gabriel Kolawole yesterday apologised to them.

Justice Kolawole took two minutes to explain that his desire had always been to handle the trial expeditiously but for the high volume of “political matters” which made it impossible.

The Judge’s statement came as counsel in the matter re-adopted their written addresses on the veracity of the Proof of Evidence filed to support the charge preferred against Okah and three others by the Federal Government.

Adopting his written address, counsel for the 1st and 2nd persons, Festus Keyamo, who had also applied to consolidate the two notices of preliminary objection dated January 13 and 18, 2011, submitted that “nothing in respect of the proof of evidence links the accused persons to the offence for which they are being tried.”

Accordingly, he invited the court to quash all the charges against the accused persons, since there is no scintilla of evidence linking them directly to the October 1, 2010 bombings.                  He said: “There was a blast, yes, but that is where it stops. If someone blows his car or house, what is the business of the FG? The accused person, if they must stand trial at all, should be charged for breaching the law against blasting, instead of being tried for attempting to overthrow the government.”

The counsel representing the 3rd and 4th accused persons, Messrs. Uche and Idris Ibrahim, both adopted their arguments in line with Keyamo’s submission for court to quash all charges against their clients, relying on Section 77 of the Criminal Procedure Act (CPA), Cap 80 Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Particularly, Uche maintained that, his client’s case was different from others, since the proof of evidence merely said he had pre-knowledge of the bombings.

He said: “Out of the 33 witnesses that testified, only three mentioned his name. And of the three, two said there was never a time he told them that there will be such bombing, while the 3rd witness said he believes the accused person ought to know. The only evidence that can link him to the crime is a confessional statement from Henry Okah.”

But prosecuting counsel, Dr. Alex Aigbe Izinyon (SAN) urged the court to dismiss all the preliminary objections raised by the defence counsel, citing Sections 77 of the CPA and 33 of the Evidence Act to strengthen his position.  He described the objections “as too simplistic to sway the court.”

Upon the counsel’s adoption of their written addresses, the court adjourned till July 29 for ruling.

-Guardian

Posted by admin on Jun 10 2011. Filed under General Politics, Latest Politics, National Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry