The Federal High Court, Abuja Division, on Tuesday ordered the State Security Service to investigate an allegation by the prosecution that part of the evidence it tendered in court and served on the defendants’ lawyers was displayed on social media.
Justice Joyce Abdulmalik also ordered that if there was any evidence on social media which contravened the court’s earlier order for witnesses’ protection, the DSS should investigate and bring the perpetrator to book.
The judge said the investigation should be conducted while the trial is ongoing, since all the defendants, through their lawyers, have denied involvement.
Counsel to the prosecution, Rotimi Oyedepo, had, midway into the proceedings, told the court that he received information that some videos tendered in the case were posted on social media by VeryDarkMan.
Mr Oyedepo informed the court that the same individual was among the audience. He urged the judge to order an investigation to determine how the materials came into the hands of VeryDarkMan.
When asked by the judge to respond, all six defence lawyers denied involvement. Some asked Mr Oyedepo to file a formal application and an affidavit so they could respond appropriately.
The judge heard the bail applications filed by the defendants. While the defence lawyers urged the court to grant bail to their clients on liberal terms, the prosecution urged the court to dismiss the applications.
Th judge then adjourned the matter until June 25 and June 30 for the first, second and third defendants to conduct their defence in the trial-within-trial, following which the fourth, fifth and sixth defendants would conduct theirs on July 1 and July 2.
The judge also fixed a ruling on the bail application for July 20.
Earlier, the prosecution urged the court to admit the defendants’ statements to investigators into evidence.
The fourth prosecution witness in the trial-within-trial being conducted to ascertain the voluntariness or otherwise of the statements made the request, telling the court that the statements were voluntarily made by the defendants, who he said were not subjected to any form of torture or harassment.
The witness, identified as ‘DDD’, was led in evidence by Mr Oyedepo during which he denied all the allegations by the defendants, including that they were tortured to make the statements, in which five of them, except the first, admitted knowing about the plot.
On whether the claim by the defendants that their feet were chained, the witness said, “It is not true. The feet of the defendants were not chained. They walked into the interview room by themselves.”
He said that if it was true they were chained, the sound of the chain would have been heard in the video played in court earlier on Tuesday.
Regarding why their lawyers were not present during the interviews, the witness said none of them requested the presence of their lawyers, family members, officials of the Legal Aid Council, or a Justice of the Peace.
The witness urged the court to admit the statement and the audio-visual recordings of the interview session with the defendants into evidence for the purposes of the trial.
Under cross-examination by the defendants’ lawyers, the witness reiterated that the defendants did not make their statements in the presence of their lawyers, family members, officials of the Legal Aid Council, or a JP.
He, however, insisted that they were neither tortured nor compelled to make the statements.
At the conclusion of the cross-examination, Mr Oyedepo announced the closure of the prosecution’s case in the trial-within-trial, having called four witnesses.
The six men are being prosecuted over their involvement in the alleged coup plot to topple President Bola Tinubu’s government.NAN
