Boko Haram: Court rejects facial masking for prosecution witnesses
Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday dismissed an application seeking facial masking for prosecution witnesses lined up to testify in the trial of three suspected members of the Islamic fundamentalist sect, Boko Haram.
The accused persons, who are being prosecuted by the Federal Government for terrorism charges, are an Islamic scholar and a lecturer at the Kogi State University, Dr. Muhammed Yunus, Salami Abdullahi (aka Asta) and Musa Umar.
The Wednesday’s ruling was a major setback to the case of the Federal Government, whose witnesses had insisted they would not appear in court without an assurance that their identities would be fully shielded from public view.
The prosecution counsel, Mr. Ayanfeoluwa Ogunsina, told Justice Gabriel Kolawole after the ruling was delivered that he needed to make consultations before continuing the case.
“I will have to make consultations if we have to continue with the case of the prosecution,” he said.
However, Justice Kolawole rejected Ogunsina’s request to adjourn the matter till June 24 so that the prosecution would complete its consultation before coming to court.
He insisted that trial would start on June 9 and continue on June 10, 24, 25 and 26 as earlier scheduled in previous proceedings.
In his ruling on Wednesday, Justice Kolawole held that the Federal Government’s application, the second of such seeking protection for its witnesses, constituted an abuse of court process.
Apart from dismissing the prayer seeking facial masking for prosecution witnesses, the court also dismissed the two other prayers, asking the court to either set aside or modify its earlier ruling delivered on April 3, 2014.
The prosecuting counsel, Ogunsina, had filed the application dated May 2, 2014, arguing that the earlier ruling of the court, granting a protection for the witnesses, was not exhaustive.
Source: Punch
