THE Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the Department of State Services (DSS) to investigate allegations that evidence tendered in the ongoing trial of six men accused of involvement in an alleged coup plot against President Bola Tinubu’s administration was displayed on social media.
News Point Nigeria reports that Justice Joyce Abdulmalik gave the directive on Tuesday after the prosecution alleged that some of the materials tendered in court and served on defence lawyers had surfaced online despite an existing court order aimed at protecting witnesses and sensitive evidence.
The judge directed the DSS to investigate the alleged breach and ensure that anyone found responsible for publishing materials in violation of the court’s order is identified and prosecuted.
Justice Abdulmalik said the investigation should proceed concurrently with the ongoing trial, noting that all the defendants, through their lawyers, denied any involvement in the alleged leak.
The issue arose during proceedings when counsel to the prosecution, Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), informed the court that he had received information that some video exhibits tendered in the matter had been posted on social media by a citizen identified as “Very Dark Man.”
Oyedepo further told the court that the same individual was present among those observing proceedings in the courtroom.
He urged the court to direct an investigation into how the materials found their way into the possession of the social media personality.
When Justice Abdulmalik sought responses from the defence team, all six defence lawyers denied any involvement in the alleged publication of the materials.
Some of the lawyers argued that the prosecution should file a formal application supported by an affidavit to enable them respond appropriately to the allegation.
Following the exchanges, the court proceeded to hear the bail applications filed by the defendants.
While the defence lawyers urged the court to grant their clients bail on liberal terms, the prosecution opposed the applications and asked the court to refuse them.
After hearing the arguments, Justice Abdulmalik adjourned proceedings until June 25 and June 30 for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd defendants to open and conduct their defence in the trial-within-trial.
The judge further directed that the 4th, 5th and 6th defendants would present their defence on July 1 and July 2.
She also fixed July 20 for ruling on the various bail applications filed by the defendants.
Earlier in the proceedings, the prosecution sought to tender statements allegedly made by the defendants to investigators as evidence.
The request was made through the fourth prosecution witness in the trial-within-trial, which is being conducted to determine whether the statements were made voluntarily or obtained under duress.
The witness, identified only as “DDD,” testified under examination by Oyedepo and insisted that the statements were voluntarily made by the defendants.
According to the witness, the defendants were not subjected to torture, harassment or any form of coercion while making the statements.
He rejected allegations made by the defendants that they were tortured to obtain confessional statements, some of which allegedly indicated that five of the six accused persons, excluding the first defendant, had knowledge of the alleged plot.
Addressing claims that the defendants had their legs chained during interrogation, the witness told the court that the allegation was false.
“It is not true. The feet of the defendants were not chained; they walked into the interview room by themselves,” the witness stated.
He argued that if the defendants had indeed been chained, the sound of the chains would have been audible in the video recordings of the interview sessions that had earlier been played before the court.
On the absence of lawyers during the interrogation sessions, the witness maintained that none of the defendants requested the presence of legal representatives, family members, officials of the Legal Aid Council or a Justice of the Peace (JP).
The witness consequently urged the court to admit both the written statements and the audiovisual recordings of the interviews as evidence for the purpose of the trial.
During cross-examination by defence counsel, the witness reiterated that the statements were not made in the presence of lawyers, family members, Legal Aid Council officials or a JP.
He, however, maintained that the defendants were neither tortured nor compelled to make the statements.
At the conclusion of cross-examination, Oyedepo announced the closure of the prosecution’s case in the trial-within-trial after presenting four witnesses.
This newspaper reports that the six defendants are facing prosecution over their alleged involvement in a purported coup plot aimed at overthrowing the administration of President Bola Tinubu.