Importation of illegal firearms: Court strikes out case for lack of jurisdiction

An FCT Chief Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday struck out a case of
alleged illegal importation of firearms and ammunition filed against
four Lebanese by the State Security Service for lack of jurisdiction.
The accused are Mustapha Fawaz, the owner of Amigo Supermarket and
Wonderland Children’s Amusement Park; Abdallah Tahini; Tala Roda; and
Kossay Nourdin.
Presiding Chief Magistrate, Oyeyipo Ademuyiwa, took the decision
following an application for withdrawal of the case file by the
prosecution counsel, C. Osagie.
Osagie had based his application on lack of jurisdiction by the court
to entertain the case.
Justice Ademuyiwa said: “Having listened to the submission of the
prosecution counsel, the application is hereby granted as prayed.
“Following the withdrawal of the First Information Report dated June 5 with charge No. CR/31/13, I hereby strike out the case pursuant to
Section 159 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
“The notice of preliminary objection dated June 17 is also struck out
having been overtaken by event.
“Consequently, the four accused persons are discharged.”
The prosecutor had earlier applied for the withdrawal of the charges
against the accused.
Osagie had said: “The accused persons were arraigned by the SSS on
June 6, 2013, and investigation into the incident showed that the case is beyond the jurisdiction of this court.
“The case file has been forwarded to the Attorney-General of the Federation.
“We, therefore, humbly apply that the FIR filed on the above date be withdrawn.”
Ahmed Raji, SAN, the defence counsel, commended the prosecution
counsel for “taking a bold step to withdraw the case”, describing him
as a good ambassador of the bar.
Raji said: “When we learnt that our clients had been arraigned before
this court, we applied for the FIR and observed that the alleged
offences bordered on terrorism.
“The case is beyond the jurisdiction of this court and this prompted
us to file an objection challenging the prosecutor’s action.”
NAN recalls that the accused were arraigned on June 6 on a two-count
charge of terrorism and illegal importation of firearms and
ammunition.
According to the SSS, the alleged offences are contrary to Section 96
(1) (a) of the Penal Code and sections 18 and 19 of the Firearms Act
Cap F2 laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 2004.
Since their arraignment, the accused have been remanded in SSS custody to enable the relevant security agencies to complete their
investigations into the case.
Meanwhile, Raji said he had filed a suit against the SSS at the
Federal High Court, Abuja, seeking N4 billion compensation for each of the four accused persons over their “unlawful” detention.
Raji told newsmen that his clients were detained without trial by the
SSS for more than a month instead of the 48 hours permitted by law.
He said the suit would come up for mention on Friday.