At the resumed plenary, Justice Adenike Akinpelu of the Kwara State High Court sitting in Ilorin granted the prayer of Adebayo Adelodun, counsel to the first defendant, Sarkin Fulani of Kwara, Usman Adamu who is currently standing trial for allegedly staging the kidnap of one Abubakar Ahmadu, to invite his witness, Ibrahim Saka before the court.
The retired Deputy Superintendent of Police and current commander, Vigilante Group of Nigeria, VGN, Kwara State chapter said, “Sometimes last year, the first defendant (Hardo) called me that the Commanding Officer, Sobi Barracks wanted to see me and I went with him to the Barracks when we got there, the Commanding Officer started begging us that two foreigners were kidnapped at Oloru area, saying he wanted us to help him fish out the kidnappers. He said the Federal Government was not happy with the incident and we promised to do our best to bring the culprit to book.
On the third day, the first defendant (Hardo) called me that he had information that the kidnappers were at Oko-Olowo that I should give him some of my men to follow him there. So, I called the VGN operatives at Oko-Olowo to follow him alongside some military men, that very day, two kidnap suspects were arrested and they were taken to Sobi Barracks.
“Again, On a different day, Hardo called me that he received information about a kidnap incident within Ilorin metropolis. Based on that information, my men arrested two people and we did that for 3 three days and each day we arrested two people.
“After five days, the first defendant (Hardo) called me that he had information that one VGN operative called Abubakar is a kidnapper. I don’t know the Abubakar in question though. So, we searched for him on that day, unfortunately we couldn’t find him and I went to Eleko to ask of him but I was told he lives at Eiyẹnkorin and I instructed the VGN Commander in charge of the zone to fetch Abubakar for me but we learned that he had travelled to Ogun State. When Abubakar came back from his journey, he showed up but the first defendant (Hardo) was not around, therefore I asked Abubakar to go home and asked one of our officers to follow him to be able identify his house so that we can find him and latee Abubakar came back with the officer and dropped him at my office with his private car.
“Immediately, I told the soldiers that this is Abubakar they have been looking for and they asked him whether he is a member of VGN and they took him to Sobi Barracks.
“On the third day, the VGN commander of Eiyenkorin, Kehinde Hussein contacted me that Abubakar’s family members were worried about their son’s whereabouts and I told them that they should not worry because the first defendant (Hardo) knows where he was and he would take us there.
“About 4 weeks later, I received a call from the DSS office, though I was in Bode Sa’adu with my men for an official assignment and I told the DSS that I would come to their on Monday but they insisted I come on that day. On getting there, I was asked to write a statement about what know regarding Abubakar’s issue and I did.”
The defence witness averred that the Hardo is the patron of Kwara VGN and he has for a very long time been using his position to facilitate joint operations between the group and other local security outfits to combat kidnapping in the state.
Counsel to the first defendant, thereby asked the witness to apprise the court about the rate of kidnap since the Hardo has been on remand.
The Kwara State Director of Public Prosecution, Ayoola Idowu Akande, prayed the court to discountenance the question for lack of relevance to the ongoing and thus cited section 42b of the Nigerian Evidence Act.
Justice Adenike, in her ruling, described the defence counsel’s question as irrelevant to the ongoing case and thereby discountenanced it.
During a cross examination by the DPP, Ibrahim Saka admitted that he didn’t see any warrant of arrest from the soldiers before Abubakar was whisked to the Barracks and further accepted that he didn’t inform Abubakar’s family about his arrest.
The DPP also put it to defence witness that Abubakar was arrested without any form of documentation as against the Standard of Operation in any military or paramilitary organisation.
The judge, therefore, adjourned the case till March 21 for further hearing.
