ThisDay bombing: Court reserves judgment

The Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday reserved judgment in a case of terrorism filed against Mustapha Umar, the alleged mastermind of the ThisDay newspaper house bombing.
Justice Adeniyi Ademola made the pronouncement after counsel to parties adopted their addresses.
The police filed a one-count charge against Umar under the Terrorism Prevention Act 2011.
The SOJ Plaza housing ThisDay, the Sun and the Moment newspapers on Kontagora Road, Kaduna were allegedly bombed on April 26, 2012 by the accused person.
Umar pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Sulyman Nurunee, counsel to the accused, prayed the court to determine if it could convict his client based on testimonies from masked prosecution witnesses and whose names and addresses were unknown.
Nurunee said: “My Lord, the court cannot rely on the evidence of group of persons masked without actual names and dependable addresses to convict and sentence an innocent man.
“We are totally opposed to the attempt to bend the country’s constitution to excommunicate my client.
“In view of the serious penalty incurable from the allegation, no other temporary arrangement other than the law should be used to determine the involvement or otherwise of the accused person in the attack.
“My Lord, we are praying the court to hold that the evidence adduced by the 10 prosecution witnesses were bereft of credibility and should be dismissed.”
Nurunee further urged the court to determine whether a mere presence of the accused person as a passerby at the scene of the incident made him liable for the attack.
He also said his client was framed by the police, adding that the judge must be courageous enough to give judgment in favour of the accused person.
He said: “My lord, it is clear that the prosecution has not proved the case beyond reasonable doubt to warrant any penalty against Umar.
“It is important to re-echo our defence that the police extracted confessional statements from accused person at five different times.”
However, Simeon Labaran, the prosecutor, said the court had through a motion filed by the prosecution team, ordered that all witnesses were obliged to mask their faces as protective measure.
Labaran submitted that the defence counsel acted unprofessionally to have raised the issue in his address, adding that “as a lawyer, he did not do what he should have done after that ruling.
“In fact, the order became a blanket preference for all witnesses and not to the prosecution witnesses alone.
“The defence team could not enjoy it because nobody came forward to testify in their favour.”
On the allegation that the prosecution invited fake witnesses, Labaran submitted that nine out of the 10 witnesses brought were able to identify the accused person.
He said: “They identified him as the man trapped in the car meant to bomb the plaza.
“The fact was also contained in the video clips and the recording made from the interview with the accused person while on hospital admission.
“In the video, he admitted to be responsible for the plot and execution of the suicide bombing.
“He further confessed that he wished to die doing the will of Allah.
“In the circumstance, we wish to depend on our written address to ask the court to convict and sentence the accused person based on the available evidence.”