Trial of 11 suspected killers of ARISE News anchor, Maduagwu, stalled

Trial of the alleged killers of Somtochukwu Maduagwu, an Arise Television news anchor, and Barnabas Danlami, a security guard, were stalled on Monday after prison authorities failed to present the defendants in court.

The eleven suspects, who are standing trial on a nine-count charge bordering on armed robbery and culpable homicide, were absent when the matter came up at the Federal Capital Territory High Court.

All the defendants had earlier pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The accused persons are Suleiman Badamosi, Zaradeen Mohammed, Musa Umar, Mashikur Jamil, Suleiman Sani, Abubakar Usman, Shamsu Hassan, Sani Surajo, Hassan Isah, Abubakar Alkamu, and Abdulsalam Saleh.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the prosecution counsel, Adama Musa, informed the court that officials of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) said they were unaware of the scheduled hearing.

Musa said the prosecution had made extensive preparations for the trial, including bringing four witnesses to court.

“On the part of the prosecution, we are in court with four witnesses who we went the extra mile to ensure are present; they abandoned their offices and are in court today,” he said.

The trial judge, Mohammed Idris, subsequently adjourned the case to February 10 and directed the witnesses to return on that date for the commencement of trial.

The case stems from an attack on September 29, when about 15 armed men reportedly stormed Unique Apartments, a four-storey, 16-flat residential building in the Katampe area of Abuja.

Maduagwu, popularly known as Sommie, reportedly died after jumping from the building during the robbery, while Danlami, a security guard at the premises, was shot dead by the assailants.