WITNESS TO WEAR MASK IN AGBA JALINGO’S COURT CASE
A Federal High Court sitting in Calabar, the Cross River State capital and presided over by Justice Simon Amobeda on Wednesday granted leave to the prosecution to mask its witnesses in a case against journalist and rights activist, Agba Jalingo.
Jalingo is facing four
charges bordering on terrorism, treasonable felony and attempt to topple the
Cross River State government.
Justice Amobeda in his
ruling on relied on Section 33 and 34 of the terrorism prevention and amendment
act 2013 as well as international conventions including those of the United
Nations and African Commission of Human and People’s rights among others to
grant the plea of the prosecution.
The public and the press
will not be allowed into the Courtroom when the witness is testifying, Justice
Amobeda ruled.
He also held that the
witness will testify behind curtains in a cubicle and to a camera. The
defendant and his counsel will also not be privy to the name, alias or any
other detail of the witness.
The prosecution counsel,
Dennis Tarhemba had on October 11, 2019 filed a motion seeking the amendment of
charges and to protect witness.
The order was sought based
on Sections 33 and 34 of the terrorism prevention and amendment act 2013;
section 216 sub section 1 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act and
Section 6 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended.
The motion was supported
by an 8 paragraph affidavit deposed to by Inspector Ihezuo Ibe and accompanied
by a written address.
During the hearing, the
counsel to the defendant, James Ibor submitted that the defendant does not
constitute a threat and faulted the application for the masking of the
witnesses as there was no proper evidence as to when, where and how the witness
was threatened. He also said that the person said to have carried out the
threat was not named even as he posited that masking of the witness will not be
in the interest of justice.
The matter was adjourned
till Wednesday, October 30, 2019 for commencement of trial with Jalingo
remanded in the custody of the Nigerian Correctional Service where he has spent
29 days so far.
The trial could not
commence on Wednesday as scheduled due to the absence of the prosecutor. The
Court had ruled on Tuesday that it will begin sitting on the matter by 10:00AM
on Wednesday. However, Mr. Tarhemba arrived the court at a few minutes to
11:00AM shortly after the Judge had concluded his ruling and adjourned the
matter.
Jalingo had in a published
article in July, queried the whereabouts of the N500 million approved and
released by the Cross River State government for the floating of the Cross
River Microfinance bank.
In August, the Police
invited him to answer to a petition bordering on the article. Originally slated
for August 19, 2019, it was rescheduled to August 26th and later September 9,
2019.
But, he was arrested by
the Intelligence Response Team of the Nigerian Police Force at his Lagos
residence on August 22, 2019 after staff of his wife were tricked and held
hostage for more than four hours to provide his whereabouts.
He is reported to have endured a whole day’s journey by road to Calabar after the police officers refused traveling with him by air and spent 34 days in police custody of which 32 were at a black site facility with controlled access.
He was arraigned for his bail hearing on September 25, 2019. And, after two more Court appearances, Justice Amobeda ruled on the fourth appearance on October 4th that there was no sufficient evidence to prove his failing health, therefore, cannot be admitted to bail.
Mixed reactions have
continued to trail his arrest, incarceration and subsequent trial with many
fingering the Cross River State government as architects of his travails, an
allegation they have continuously denied.
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