Justice Daniel Longji of Plateau State High Court on Thursday recused himself in the murder trial of former Chief of Administration, Army Headquarters, late Major General Idris Alkali (rtd).
Justice Longji cited limited time and retirement as reasons forcing him to recuse himself from the trial.
It would be recalled that about 27 suspects were arraigned before Plateau state High Court on a five count charge bordering criminal conspiracy, culpable homicide, failure to give information to security agents on the crime, unlawful assembly for the purpose of committing an offence and resisting the search for the late Gen. Alkali.
The court in February 2019 granted bail to the remaining seven suspects charged after it had in December 2018 granted bail to the 20 suspects.
At the resumed hearing, the presiding judge, Justice Longji said limited time on his side was a major reason for him to recuse himself from the trial.
He said, “We haven’t even started the trial proper, in view of the limited time left for me after 45 years in service and there is no way I can start this case and finished before my retirement, I would refer the case to the Chief Judge to assign it to another judge. Nobody pressured me to do so”.
Earlier, Kyari Gadzama as head of prosecuting counsel alongside three other counsels announced their appearance as the new prosecutors of the case after taken over from the Plateau state Ministry of Justice
The counsels to the 27 accused persons, Mahan Mafuwal, Bitrus Fwangshak and E. Ekoro didn’t object the taking over of the case by Mr Gadzama and his team.
Daily Trust reports that General Alkali had gone missing on September 3 while travelling from Abuja to Bauchi via Jos.
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