Author:A magistrate court in Sokoto has struck out a suit against suspects involved in the alleged murder of Deborah Emmanuel, a female student of Shehu Shagari College of Education.
Between the arraignment in May and September 2022, the case was adjourned at the instance of the police for several reasons.On November 3, the police prosecutor told the court his witnesses were not present in court as they were not able to serve them. On November 28, the police prosecutor was absent from court and the case was adjourned to December 8. On the next adjourned date, both the prosecution and defendants were absent and the court adjourned the case to December 29.M.B Abdallah, counsel to the defendants, then applied for the case to be struck out due to the absence of the prosecution.The defendants then made another application for the striking out of the case and it was granted.
“In the interest of justice and in accordance with the law, I hereby grant the application of the learned counsel to defendants to strike out this case for lack of evidence and lack of diligent prosecution,” the judge said.Sunny Akanni, national coordinator of Olive Tree Citizen’s Rights Initiative , said the police were not keen on prosecuting the matter.