{"id":3246,"date":"2013-05-06T23:27:22","date_gmt":"2013-05-06T23:27:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/disnaija.com\/nigeria-news\/terrorism-suspect-fails-to-stop-trial\/"},"modified":"2013-05-06T23:27:22","modified_gmt":"2013-05-06T23:27:22","slug":"terrorism-suspect-fails-to-stop-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/disnaija.com\/terrorism-suspect-fails-to-stop-trial\/","title":{"rendered":"Terrorism Suspect Fails To Stop Trial"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Nnamdi Felix \/ Abuja<\/strong><\/p>\n

Suspected mastermind of the 2011 Christmas Day bombing of St. Theresa’s Catholic church in Madala, Niger state, Mr. Kabiru Umar, also known as Kabiru Sokoto, on Monday at a federal high court siting in Abuja failed in his bid to truncate his trial.<\/p>\n

In an application brought on his behalf by his lawyer, Mr. Ibrahim Aliyu, the suspected terrorist challenged the jurisdiction of the court on his trial noting the facts and constituent elements of the charge against him did not take place in Abuja and that he ought not to be tried before the federal high court in Abuja.<\/p>\n

Kabiru further contended that the right venue for his trial ought to be in Sokoto or Niger state where he allegedly committed the acts of terrorism and not in Abuja. He also challenged the competence of the three counts brought against him noting that there was no prima facie evidence in the proof of evidence which links him to the alleged crimes and urged the court to discharge the charge and allow him to go.<\/p>\n

The prosecutor, Ms. Chioma Onuegwu vehemently opposed the application which she considered as laughable. She argued that the federal high court has the entire country as its jurisdiction. He contended that the federal high court Act empowers the court to sit in any part of the country as well as empower the Chief Judge to assign any case to any of the judges of the court at any of the court’s divisions.<\/p>\n

\"Kabiru <\/p>\n

Kabiru Sokoto:fails to challenge jurisdiction<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

She also contested Kabiru’s lawyer’s reliance on the Ibori case in his submissions to buttress the position of the law on location of an alleged crime and argued that the Ibori case relates to money laundering while the instant case is that of terrorism which is a treasonable felony. She urged the court to exercise its powers under the Terrorism Prevention by dismissing Kabiru’s application.<\/p>\n

The presiding judge, Justice Adeniyi Ademola, in his ruling, relied on the provisions of the Terrorism Prevention Act which empowers the federal high court to sit anywhere within the country to hear and determine cases arising from terrorist acts irrespective of the location where the alleged crime took place in Nigeria, and dismissed the suspected terrorist’s application.<\/p>\n

No sooner was the application denied, Kabiru’s lawyer moved a pending application for his bail. He pointed out to the court that the nation’s constitution guarantees his client bail pending his trial and urged the court to exercise its discretion in the suspected terrorist’s favour by grantingg him bail.<\/p>\n

Again, Ms. Chioma Onuegwu opposed the application. She reminded the court that Kabiru had earlier escaped from pilice custody on their way to search his house at Abaji before his re arrest at Taraba state on W0th February, 2012 by operatives of the SSS and urged the court to deny the suspect bail.<\/p>\n

According to the prosecutor, “releasing him on bail will jeopardize the security of the entire nation and moreover, the charges against him are not ordinarily bailable”<\/p>\n

Justice Adeniyi thereafter adjourned to 9th May to rule on the bail application and further remanded the suspect to SSS custody.<\/p>\n

Mr. Sokoto was arraigned on a three counts charge by Nigeria’s secret police, the SSS, wherein he was alleged to have facilitated the commission of a terrorist act by planting and encouraging his boys who are said to be at large, at Mabira Sokoto in Sokoto state, with the intention to bomb the Police Headquarters in the state between 2007 and 2012. The offence is said to be contrary to section 15(2) of the Economic anf Financial Crimes Commission Act, 2004.<\/p>\n

He was also alleged to have been in possession of information about the bombing of 4t. Theresa’s Catholic Church on the 25th of December, 2011, but failed to disclose it to law enforcement officers within a reasonable time to forestall the incident and there by committed an offence contrary to section 7 (1) of the Terrorism Prevention Act 2013 and punishable under section 33 (1) of the same Act<\/p>\n

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