Agba Jalingo: Drama As Prosecution Sets Black Cover Witness Box In Courtroom

… heavy security presence as court upholds decision to mask star
witness

There was a melodrama in the Federal High Court room2 in Calabar
on Tuesday as the trail for a journalist, Agba Jalingo began with
the star witness under the cover court order to remain masked.

The unusual was noticed in the early morning hours as heavy
security presence as never before noticed in the court
premises.

At least two dozen armed policemen from the State Command of the
Nigerian Police Force as well as a dozen personnel of the Nigerian
Security and Civil Defense Corps had surrounded and taken positions
within the Court premises as early as 8:00 AM with those going in
searched thoroughly.

Officials of the Nigerian Correctional Service arrived around
9:48 AM in a green-colored van marked “Calabar Prisons” with Mr.
Jalingo.

The first matter to be addressed by the court was a pending
application where the defense lawyer, Adeyinka Olumide-fusika SAN
had challenged the earlier order of the court approving the
prosecution to mask their star witness.

Justice Simon Amobeda in his ruling, having taken arguments from
the counsels at the previous sitting, said that it cannot sit as on
appellate on its own order made October 23, 2019.

The Judge held that there are exceptional cases to that position
of law, but argued that the counsel to the defendant/applicant
Adeyinka Olumide-fusika SAN failed to cite the exceptional cases in
his argument.

Olumide-fusika SAN had in his argument on October 30th submitted
that the names, addresses and other details of six out of seven
witnesses were already stated in the prosecution’s proof of
evidence and while relying on a paragraph of the ruling which said
the order to mask witnesses can be modified, urged the Court to
vary or modify its order to be restricted to witness seven marked
as ‘XYZ’ in the proof of evidence.

But, Justice Amobeda in his ruling said it agrees with the
prosecution that the application of the defense was an invitation
to the Court to sit on appeal on its own order and asked the
defense to approach the Appeal Court.

However, he agreed with the defense that there was no evidence
that the witnesses of the prosecution had been threatened as the
deponent of the affidavit supporting the application of the
prosecution to mask witnesses had failed to provide details of the
scenario.

Olumide-Fusika SAN had also argued that there was no way the
prosecution’s witnesses could have been threatened on the 28th day
of August 2019 when the initial charges were filed on August 30th
2019 and served on the defendant on September 3rd, 2019.

The matter is stood down till noon. When the court resumed
sitting afternoon hours, the trial was set to commence with the
setting up of a witness cubicle with dark cover material. The
prosecution requested that the courtroom be vacated as per the
order of the court to protect the identity of the masked
witness.

Court officials and policemen swung into action and ushered
journalists filming and photographing the setting up of a stage for
the masked witnesses as the secret trial begins.

Three Lawyers in Mr. Jalingo’s defense team were also asked out
of the Courtroom at the instance of the prosecution counsel, Mr.
Dennis Tarhemba. Two police sergeants who act as security officials
for the Court, as well as one Court clerk, effected the orders.

The correctional officers who accompanied Mr. Jalingo from the
custodial center were also asked out of the Courtroom.

Jalingo is facing charges bordering on conspiracy, terrorism,
treasonable felony and attempt to topple the Cross River State
government.

Agba Jalingo had in July, published an article where he demanded
the Cross River State government comes clean on the whereabouts of
the NGN500 million approved and released for the floating of the
Cross River Microfinance bank.

In August he was invited by the Cross River State Police command
for an interview based on a petition against him bordering on his
article.

The interview was first slated for August 19, 2019. It was later
rescheduled for August 26th and September 3, 2019. Mr. Jalingo went
public with his decision to honor the invitation.

However, he was arrested in a Gestapo style operation by Police
officers detailed from Cross River State to his Lagos residence on
August 22, 2019. He was then driven by road to Calabar, the Cross
River capital where he arrived on August 24, 2019.

He was detained for 32 more days at a police black site facility
with limited access to him until his arraignment on September 25,
2019, for the hearing of his bail.

The trial has suffered so many setbacks with the Court denying
admitting Mr. Jalingo to bail on two occasions; October 4th and
October 30th.

Odumakin to chair 7th News Express Anniversary
Lecture
•Veteran broadcaster Helen Odeleye is host

Famed Change Agent, Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, will chair the 7th
News Express Anniversary Lecture holding this Thursday, November
14, 2019 at the Main Hall of Sheraton Hotel & Towers, Ikeja,
Lagos.

“We couldn’t have possibly made a better choice than Dr. Joe
Okei-Odumakin considering her pedigree as a change agent and the
theme of the Lecture, which is focused on generating creative ideas
to take Nigeria out of the woods,” ,” News Express Publisher Isaac
Umunna said Monday in a statement.

He described, Dr. Okei-Odumakin, who is the president of the
rights groups Women Arise for Change Initiative and the Campaign
for Democracy, as one of the most awarded Nigerians alive.

“Dr. Joe, as she is fondly called, is a Change Agent who has
frequently been arrested for her activism, and was detained 17
times during the Ibrahim Babangida military era. She has been
involved with over 2,000 cases where a woman’s rights had been
disregarded.

In 2013, Dr. Joe was presented an International Women of Courage
Award from the United States Department of State. The award was
presented to her by the First Lady Michelle Obama and Secretary of
State John Kerry at the US State Department’s Dean Acheson
Auditorium in celebration of International Women’s Day,” Umunna
said.

He announced Helen Odeleye, a veteran broadcast and immediate
past General Manager of NTA Channel 10 Lagos, as Host of the
Lecture.

Umunna said that former Governor of Anambra State and Vice
Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during
the 2019 polls, Mr. Peter Obi, will headline the 7th News Express
Anniversary Lecture as the Special Guest of Honour and Guest
Speaker at

He announced the keynote speakers to include Eminent Lawyer and
celebrated Activist, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, SAN; and Legal cum
Development Expert, Barrister Bashir Maidugu, a former National
Legal Adviser of PDP.

“As was the case with previous years’ editions, the 7th News
Express Anniversary Lecture will attract top government
functionaries, industry and religious leaders, professional groups
and diverse sectorial leaders, among others. It is a spectacular
programme that commands public attention with organisers creating
hype pre-event, during and post events both in the traditional and
new media. It will also be streamed live to a global audience and
broadcast on News Express Digital TV,” Umunna said.

The statement identified past speakers at the News Express
Anniversary Lecture to include Special Adviser To The President On
Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina; Governor Sani Bello of Niger
State, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) Managing Director Hadiza Bala
Usman; and ‘Africa’s Bill Gates’, Mr. Leo Stan Ekeh, Chairman of
Zinox Technologies Ltd and Konga.

News Express, which debuted on August 29, 2012, is one of
Nigeria’s most popular and influential online dailies. It is read
by hundreds of thousands of people around the world and records
annual traffic of upwards of 100 million.

Isaac Umunna