BEVERLY HILLS, July 04, (THEWILL) – Justice Gabriel Kolawole of the Federal High Court in Abuja, on Tuesday, dismissed the four-count terrorism charge which the Federal Government preferred against Senator Ali Ndume, ruling that the prosecution could not prove that it was Ndume that hitherto sponsored activities of the Boko Haram sect.
He said the federal government failed to establish a prima-facie case against the defendant to warrant him to enter his defence to allegations that were levelled against him in the charge.
The court therefore upheld a no-case-submission that Ndume filed through his lawyer, Chief Ricky Tarfa SAN.
Ndume had contended that the totality of evidence tendered by the federal government against him were not enough to warrant the court to compel him to enter his defence to the charge dated November 30, 2011.
He told the court that he actually made contacts with members of the Boko Haram sect owing to his position as a member of a Presidential Committee that was set up to look into security challenges in the North-East.
Ndume told the court that he duly briefed the then Vice President, Namadi Sambo and then Director-General of the Department of State Services, DSS, about his interactions with members of the sect.
In his ruling, Justice Kolawole noted that the Federal Government failed to discharge the burden of proof that was placed on it by section 131(5) of the Evidence Act, 2015.
He observed that the prosecution failed to produce some vital witnesses, including the former Vice President, Sambo and the then DSS DG.
Kolawole equally noted that Federal Government failed to produce convicted self-acclaimed spokesman of the Boko Haram sect, Ali Konduga, who Ndume admitted made contacts with him in the course of his assignment as a member of the Presidential Committee.
According to the court, evidence of the aforementioned persons, which the prosecution failed to call as witnesses, would have helped it to establish a link between Ndume and the sect.
The judge held that Konduga would have confirmed if the interactions he had with the defendant was before or after his appointment into the Presidential Committee.
He noted that none of the nine witnesses that testified in the matter gave valuable evidence nailing the defendant to the charge.
“There is no piece of evidence by which the defendant was linked with providing Boko Haram with any equipment to aid it to perpetuate terror,” the Judge ruled, stating that where doubt arises in a criminal trial, it must be resolved in favour of a defendant.
The court consequently struck out the charge and ordered that Ndume’s international passport should be returned to him immediately.
