Justice Gabriel Kolawole of the Federal High Court, Abuja on Wednesday ordered a trial-within-trial to determine whether the statements from suspects were obtained voluntarily.
Kolawole said the trial-within-trial was necessary to establish the fact of the purported statement of the accused persons tendered in court by the prosecuting counsel, N.B. Jones-Nebo.
He adjourned the matter till October 25 for the trial-within-trial.
Three defendants – Salami Abudullahi, Musa Umar and Dr. Nazeef Yunus, a lecturer with the Kogi State University – are being tried on an eight-count charge bordering on terrorism.
The defendants were accused of belonging to the Boko Haram sect, which they denied.
At the resumed trial, Nebo-Jones sought to tender the statement of Abdullahi and Umar, but was opposed by the defendants’ counsel.
Counsel to the defendants, James Ocholi and Abdul Mohammed, had argued that the statement was obtained from their clients through “oppression”.