Trial of Suspected Terrorists with Links to Iran Fixed for September 17

Tobi Soniyi in Abuja
A Federal High Court in Abuja yesterday slated September 17, 2014 for the adoption of addresses in the trial of Saidi Adewumi, and Abdullahi Mustapha Berende standing trial for allegedly recruiting new members for an Iran-based terrorist organisation.

When the matter came up yesterday, prosecution counsel, Mrs Chioma Onwuegbu, told the court that at the last adjourned date, it ordered that parties should file and serve written address within 21 days for adoption.

She said she was yet to receive any process from the defence counsel. Counsel to the 2nd accused person, O.F Ikemba, who also held the brief of the counsel to the 1st accused person, told the court that he had challenges in filing the processes and prayed the court for time to file and serve his written address.

The trial judge, Justice Ahmed Mohammed adjourned till September 17 for adoption of written addresses and ordered that processes for the prosecution should be served through the office of the Director of Public Prosecution in the Ministry of Justice.  The court had last year ordered trial-within-trial in the terrorism charge against the two accused persons. They were said to have collected 3,000 Euros and $20,000 from the Iran terrorist group in order to source and train terrorist-minded Nigerians fluent in English language.

According to a six-count charge filed against them by the federal government, the duo, had on or before September 2011 and December 2012, at Tehran in Iran, rendered support to the group via provision of materials and terrorism training on use of firearms and other weapons.

The federal government told the court that some of the persons that benefited from the training, among whom included Suleiman Olayinka Sake and Aminu Mohammed Yusuf, were currently at large.

Their alleged offence is punishable under section 5(1) and 8 of the Terrorism Prevention Act, 2013.
The accused persons who had being held in the custody of the SSS, had denied the content of confessional statements they allegedly made before the security agency, saying they were coerced into making the statements.

They made the denial shortly after the federal government, produced its first witness, Mr. James Eneh Izih, a chief investigative officer with the Department of State Security (DSS), to testify against them.

In his testimony, the masked witness told the court that the duo were separately apprehended on December 17 and 24, 2012, saying while the 1st accused person, Berende, was arrested in Illorin, Kwara State, the 2nd accused, was apprehended at Alagbado Station in Ifo Local Government Area, Ogun State.

The witness told the court that several incriminating items were recovered from their houses, including the sum of $5,800, which he said was found in the residence of the 1st accused.

Also recovered from the accused persons were media gadgets which the witness said indicted the accused persons after it was subjected to forensic analysis.

However, at the point of tendering separate statements that were allegedly made by the 1st accused person on February 8 and 25 this year, and that of the 2nd accused person made on January 15, 2013, the defence team, led by Mr. M.I Hanafi, raised an objection to their admissibility as evidence, relying on section 29 of the Evidence Act.

Sequel to the development, government lawyer, Mrs. Chioma Onwuegbu, urged the court to order for a trial-within-trial so as to ascertain whether the accused persons made the statements voluntarily or not, an application that was not opposed by the defence lawyers.

The federal government alleged that Abdullahi, while in Iran, had information to commit terrorism acts but concealed such information from security operatives, and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 8(1) of the Terrorism Prevention Act 2011 as amended.
Count three stated that the first accused person had at Tehran and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, (UAE), collected foreign currencies in US dollars and euros to aid and abate the commission of terrorism acts, contrary to Section 13(1) (a) of the Terrorism Prevention Act 2011 and punishable under the same Act.

Abdullahi was equally accused in count four of recruiting  persons for an Iranian terrorist organisation an offence the federal government said it violated Section 10 of the Terrorism Prevention Act.