#Justice4Bridget: Six weeks after, Kano State Govt decline explaining why suspects were freed
Posted by FactNews | 7 years ago | 2,123 times
The Kano state government has refused to give explanations as to why the prime suspects nabbed in connection to the gruesome murder of Bridget Agbahime were set free.
The murder, which took place at Kofar Wambai Market on June 2 2016, cut deep into Nigeria’s religious and tribal fault lines.
Efforts made to obtain information from obtain information from the Abdullahi Ganduje’s led administration by PremiumTimes were frustrated.
On June 4, Mr. Ganduje announced the arrest of one Dauda Ahmad as a ‘prime’ suspect in the murder, which helped douse sectarian tensions that were brewing at the time.
Mr. Ganduje, who announced the arrest at a meeting with a delegate of Christian leaders in the state, promised a thorough prosecution of anyone charged in connection to the murder.
On June 10, the police arraigned five suspects, including Mr. Ahmad, before a Chief Magistrate’s Court in Kano.
The remaining four were: Abdullahi Mustapha, Zubairu Abubakar, Abdullahi Abubakar and Musa Abdullahi.
They were all charged with four counts of incitement, culpable homicide and mischief, based on sections 144, 80, 51 and 327 of the state penal code. If convicted, the offences could attract a death penalty.
At the opening of the trial, state prosecutor, Dauda Jibrin, submitted to the trial judge that Mr. Ahmad led his alleged accomplices to confront Mrs. Agbahime.
After slapping her several times while chanting ‘Allahu Akbar,’ the suspects then started hitting her with sticks, causing bruises and other bodily injuries to her until she struggled to death, Mr. Jibrin said.
Mr. Jibrin, who was representing the Kano State Attorney-General, Haruna Falali, told the court that even more suspects were at large.
He identified them as: Salawiyu, Ibrahim, Dini, Isiyaku Mada, Mallam Sani and Yunusa Sufi.
Shortly after the suspects were arraigned, the police transferred all the case files to Mr. Falali’s office for legal advice and continued prosecution.
But on November 3, Mr. Falali abruptly withdrew the case and asked the court to discharge all suspects.
Mr. Falali said he discharged them because there was “no case to answer as the suspects are all innocent.” He ordered the court to “discharge all the suspects.”
The announcement sparked a nationwide outrage, with the Christian Association of Nigeria describing it as “highly provocative and insulting act on our collective sensitivities as a democratic nation.”
But efforts by PREMIUM TIMES to get the Kano State Government to give further explanation about its action were rebuffed.
Questions such as who the state believed was responsible for the act since those it initially described as ‘prime’ suspects had been freed, why it failed to move the matter to a high court for prosecution after several months —since the Magistrate Court can not try capital offences— and how it arrived at the decision to exonerate the suspects were left unanswered.
Mike Agbahime, Bridget’s husband, said he identified all the five suspects arraigned in connection to the murder of his wife.
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