Key Points:
- DSS asks the court to speed the case. The agency says it is ready now.
- Judge Nwite grants the bid without a fight. The defence teams raise no fresh bar.
- Trial-within-trial returns on 23 and 24 October. Parties will watch taped confessions in court.
The Department of State Services has moved the case again. The service now wants a quick and clean trial. The court in Abuja has agreed with that plan. So, key steps will run at once.
Senior lawyer Alex Iziyon, SAN, led the DSS team. He told the court the files are set. He pressed for speed to end long delays. The court took that view and gave the nod.
Court allows videos to test the confessions
Justice Nwite ruled on the plan in open court. He said the hearing will stay tight and swift. He also agreed to play the video clips. The clips aim to show each statement was made by free will.
The defence had said some words were forced. They raised that point in past sittings. Now, the court will test those claims on tape. Each side will watch and note the fine points.
Dates fixed and charges restated for clarity
The judge fixed 23 and 24 October for the drill. The drill is a trial-within-trial on the statements. The main file is a terrorism case. The lead name on that file is Khalid Al-Barnawi.
Prosecutors also list four other men on the sheet. They are Mohammed Bashir Saleh and Umar Mohammed Bello. Two more are Mohammed Salisu and Yakubu Nuhu. The charge links them to the Ansaru group.
Backstory on the 2011 UN bombing and arrests
The case ties back to the 2011 Abuja blast. That strike hit the United Nations building on 26 August. More than twenty people died in that blast. Over seventy others got hurt as well.
Agents picked Al-Barnawi in Lokoja in April 2016. He had been on watch lists for years. The United States once set a $5 million bounty. That tag came with the “global terrorist” mark.
The charge sheet spans 2011 to 2013 for plots. It lists plans in Sokoto, Kebbi, and Bauchi. It also lists Borno and Gombe, plus more states. One claim points to a 2012 jail raid in Abuja.
Meanwhile, DSS made news this week on a fresh front. The service wrote to X about a viral post. You can read that move in this report on the DSS petition to X over Sowore’s page.In a separate court track, a Lagos judge curbed police steps. See the order in this piece on theNedu Wazobia restraint ruling.
As things stand, the court wants clean progress. The next dates will shape the path ahead. If the clips stand, the trial will press on. If not, the court will set a new route.
