Alleged Boko Haram Sponsorship: Court Acquits Ndume, Quashes Charges
The Federal High Court in Abuja, on Tuesday, struck-out the four-count terrorism charge the Federal Government preferred against Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume.
The court held that FG could not prove that it was Ndume that hitherto sponsored activities of the Boko Haram sect.
Justice Gabriel Kolawole stressed that FG was unable 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. Consequently, the court upheld a no-case-submission that Ndume filed through his lawyer, Chief Ricky Tarfa, SAN.
Ndume who is currently representing Borno South Federal Constituency in the Senate, had contended that totality of evidence FG tendered against him were not sufficient 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 Service, DSS, about his interactions with members of the sect. Meanwhile, in his ruling, Justice Kolawole noted that FG failed to discharge the burden of proof that was placed on it by section 131(5) of the Evidence Act, 2015.
The Judge observed that FG failed to produce some vital witnesses, including the former Vice President, Sambo and the then DSS DG. Justice Kolawole equally noted that FG 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 FG failed to call as witnesses would have helped it to establish a link between Ndume and the sect.
He held that Konduga would have confirmed if the interactions he had with the defendant was before or after his appointment into the Presidential Committee.
The court held that none of the nine witnesses that testified in the matter gave valuable evidence nailing the defendant to the charge.
