The federal government yesterday informed that the case of the alleged mastermind of the Nyanya bombing, Aminu Sadiq Ogwuche, was discontinued because the accused was not supposed to face prosecution at the time he was arraigned.
Disclosing this at the resumption of its regular briefing in Abuja, Coordinator of the National Information Centre (NIC), Mike Omeri explained that Ogwuche had to be arraigned at the Federal High Court in Abuja in order to fulfill the condition given by the Sudanese authorities for his extradition to Nigeria.
He asserted that, “the case was instituted in the first place to satisfy Sudanese authorities.”
Following the bomb blast that rocked Nyanya in the Federal Capital Territory, Ogwuche was arrested in Sudan and brought to the country on July 15 this year on charges of being the mastermind of the 14 April twin bomb attack in the satellite town.
However, Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Abuja Federal High Court, last week struck out the two-count charge preferred against Ogwuche, for want of diligent prosecution by the Nigeria Police Force.
Reacting to the development, Omeri stated: “Sudanese government wanted to see that before this man (Ogwuche) is extradited, he should be actually charged for the offence at home. Therefore, to fulfill the condition, Nigeria has to take him (Ogwuche) to court and we showed evidence that his case was in court. And so, they released him to us.
“Ordinarily, the case should not have continued, because the man (Ogwuche) is still in custody of the relevant security agency, all those things to be done are now being done diligently to ensure successful prosecution of the offender,” he added.
The NIC Coordinator, however, warned that some civil groups are trying to capitalize on the situation in the country to achieve their selfish interest in the forthcoming 2015 general elections.
In his condemnation of the recent bomb explosions in various parts of the country, Omeri called for a stronger cooperation among the three tiers of government.
“NIC urges greater cooperation between the local and the state governments in the area of community policing and similar exercises that will effectively check terror activities in all parts of the country,” he declared.
Comments