Kaduna State Government said it will appeal the discharge of the defendants in the State versus Mahdi Munkaila and 91 others.
Aisha Dikko, Attorney-General & Commissioner of Justice, in a statement issued on Friday said this is one of the cases arising from the Zaria clashes of December 2015.
She said After calling 36 witnesses and tendering 106 exhibits, the prosecution is surprised that the court concluded that a legally admissible case had not been made.
“The state is dissatisfied with the ruling of the court which is, in our view, erroneous in law, perverse and cannot be supported having regards to the evidence led before the court by the prosecution.
“As such, the state will be lodging an appeal at the Court of Appeal, Kaduna, as soon as the full text of the ruling of the high court and other records are compiled,” she said.
She said the case in KDH/KAD/40C/2016 began as a fallout of the events that began in Zaria from 12th December 2015 when members of a now proscribed group attempted to prevent the convoy of the Chief of Army Staff from passing through a public highway.
She said after the clashes, 90 of those arrested at the scene were handed over to the police, adding that at the conclusion of investigations, a five count charge of Criminal Conspiracy, Culpable Homicide, Unlawful Assembly, Disturbance of Public Peace and Wrongful Restraint, under Sections 97, 221, 102, 106 and 256 of the Penal Code.
She said the matter was assigned to Hon. Justice H.T.D Gwadah of the Kaduna State High Court for trial.
She said a total of 36 witnesses were called by the prosecuting counsel from the office of the Attorney General & Commissioner for Justice of Kaduna State. Witnesses included senior military officers who were with the Chief of Army Staff at the scene of the crime, Senior Police Officers, a Consultant Pathologist, Ballisticians and Victims of the crime.
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