Nigeria: Boko Haram - Ndume Has Case to Answer
16 JUNE 2012
Comment
A Federal High Court in Abuja yesterday held that Senator Ali Mohammed Ndume has a case to answer in the ongoing trial of terrorism instituted against him by the federal government.

Ndume was accused of withholding information on the activities of Boko Haram from security agencies.

While ruling on an application by Ndume to quash the charges against him, Justice Gabriel Kolawole said that the fact that Ndume denied involvement in the offence with which he was charged did not mean that there was no case against him.

The Judge further held that the prosecution's affidavit, evidence and witnesses' statement showed that Ndume had a link with the dreaded members of the Islamic sect group Boko Haram.

He said: "The motion on notice brought by the accused person seeking to quash the charges against him is hereby dismissed; the accused person should face trial. I am prepared to give the matter accelerated hearing."

In the motion filed through his Counsel, Rickey Tarfa (SAN), Ndume had asked the court to quash the charges against him on the grounds that there was no sufficient evidence linking him with the alleged offences (relating with the Boko Haram sect).

Ndume also alleged bias, saying the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) drafted the charge in bad faith and without regard to the facts of the case.

He said the case was an abuse of court process since the charges were filed when a similar suit against him was pending before an Abuja Chief Magistrates Court.

Ndume said that he came in contact with the sect when he was appointed as a member of the Presidential Committee on Security Challenges in the North East Zone.

However, the prosecutor, Olufumilayo Fatunde, opposed the application to quash the charges.

She argued that the application was premature.

On the issue of abuse of court process, Fatunde asked the court to discountenance Ndume's argument as she explained that the charges against Ndume at the Chief Magistrates Court were withdrawn before new ones were filed at the Federal High Court.

She said that an operative with the State Security Service (SSS), James Ini Eze, in a witness deposition, said investigation revealed that Ndume had contact with the sect and also knew the sect's former spokesperson, Ali Sanda Umar Konduga, who was last year sentenced to three years in prison.



http://allafrica.com/stories/201206160432.html