Jos – A Federal High Court sitting in Jos on Tuesday discharged and acquitted six suspects accused of participating in the Jan. 20 crisis in the Plateau capital.

The suspects are Alhassan Mohammed, Abubakar Samaila, Abubakar Shuaibu, Buhari Dahiru, Ibrahim Musa and Nasiru Idris.

They were charged with terrorism after allegedly participating in the crisis in which many lives were lost and property worth millions of naira destroyed.

A federal Prosecution Counsel, Mr Gbenga Walington, had earlier told the court, presided over by Justice Ambrose Allagoah, that he could not press charges against the accused.

He said that he was in a “precarious situation,’’ having failed to trace the military officers who arrested the suspects on the day the violence erupted.

Walington asked the court to give him more time to tidy up the case for proper prosecution.

The Counsel to the accused, Mr Ahmed Garba, however, objected to the submission, describing it as a “deliberate tactic“ to keep delaying the case “even when government has nothing to prove against the accused“.

He told the court that it was more than eight months now that his clients had been detained and put on trial, noting that  “each time we come to court, the prosecution counsel usually fails to press any charge against them”.

“Since the trial began, there is no case that has been established against the accused. By the confession of the prosecution counsel, it is clear that there is no case against the suspects.”

Garba therefore prayed the court to discharge and acquit his clients.

In his ruling, Allagoah discharged and acquitted the accused for the lack of evidence by the Federal Government to prosecute them.

“Since the prosecution counsel has failed to prove a case against the accused, I hereby discharge and acquit them. The case is therefore dismissed.”

Reacting to the judgment, Garba said the judiciary had done justice to the case.

“It is a judgment earned on the merit. At least, the accused have been vindicated.”

Garba urged the Federal Government and the National Assembly to reform the criminal justice system, to give full effect to the presumption of innocence in the 1999 constitution.

“This is necessary, because a situation where an accused will be kept in custody for months or years, only to be discharged for want of evidence, is unacceptable and disheartening.”

In his reaction, Walington said it was the responsibility of the prosecution to prosecute a case diligently, and “not to convict at all cost“. (NAN)