The matter which was slated for hearing today (Wednesday) before Magistrate Hajia Aisha could not go on following a strange application by the police prosecution to further amend the charges in the First Information Report (FIR).
A Senior Magistrate court sitting in Mararaba, Nasarawa State has adjourned the case of alleged criminal intimidation, conspiracy and assault filed by the Nigerian police against human rights lawyer Abdul Mahmud to December 6, 2023.
The matter which was slated for hearing today (Wednesday) before Magistrate Hajia Aisha could not go on following a strange application by the police prosecution to further amend the charges in the First Information Report (FIR).
The FIR was earlier submitted to the court after the defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges at the last adjourned date.
The prosecutor had on the next adjourned date applied for consolidation of the three FIRs which the court granted and the defendants again pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Surprisingly, after several adjournments of the case, the prosecutor on Wednesday again told the court that he would like to separate the FIR he had previously consolidated.
The defence counsel, Ben Okeze, while objecting to the strange application moved by the prosecution counsel, said it was proof that the police had no case against his client and were not ready for the case.
He said the application for the amendment of FIR was confusing and funny. According to him, it was an attempt to delay the case and frustrate the medical trip of his client abroad.
Similarly, another prosecuting counsel in the matter told the court of the inability of the police to produce the witnesses lined up in the case.
He said this was due to the fact that all the witnesses were police officers and had been deployed for election duties in Kogi, Imo and Bayelsa states.
He urged the court to grant them more time to enable them to produce the witnesses.
In his submission, the defence counsel objected to the application.
He described the application for more time by the prosecution as a ploy to delay the case because they were not prepared.
He insisted that one of the witnesses, Zara Mohammed, identified as a sister of ACP Amabua Mohammed, was not a police officer as claimed by the prosecution.
He argued that she ought to have been in court since she was not a police officer.
The court therefore adjourned the case to December 6, 2023, for the hearing.
The police arrested Mahmud for reporting the alleged atrocities of a power-drunk Assistant Commissioner of Police serving with the Multinational Joint Task Force, Amabua Muhammed.
ACP Amabua Muhammed went to Karu in Nasarawa State on June 25, 2023, to arrest a security guard whom she claimed had falsely imprisoned her sister.
Mahmud's ‘offence’ is that he intervened and demanded to know why they were assaulting the security officer for an offence that required a warrant of arrest, which the ACP couldn't produce when Mahmud demanded it.
In a tweet, Mahmud had urged the police force to caution its officers.
“A serving Assistant Commissioner of Police serving with the Multinational Joint Task Force is intimidating civilians in Karu, Nasarawa State. @PoliceNG must call its officer to order,” he had said.
The police officers later invaded his home and arrested him.
“I have taken the intimidation of citizens too far. Because I defended ordinary citizens intimidated by ACP Amabua Muhammed on Sunday in Karu, officers led by Insp Sola Olalekan have arrested me in my own home. Headed to the station at Abacha Road, Mararaba @policeng,” he had written.
In a related development, ACP Amabua Mohammed is currently being investigated by the Code of Conduct Bureau over two properties worth N18 million that she claims belong to her.
She alleged that the security officer imprisoned her sister, Zara, when Mahmud confronted her on June 25, 2023.