Nigerian Judiciary Again In Spotlight: Kaduna Gunrunners Set Free Despite Being Found With Weapons By The Army

Alhaji Nuhu Mohammed, who was
last January arrested on gunrunning
charges, has been set free by a
Kaduna Magistrate Court.
On January 15, SaharaReporters
exclusively reported that there were
influential forces working against
the prosecution of Mohammed, a
top Peoples Democratic Party’s
chieftain. The deal to set him free
was concluded this morning and he
walked out of the courtroom at
Ibrahim Taiwo Road along with his
son.
SaharaReporters had exclusively in
a subsequent report identified him
as head of a campaign organization
christened “Namadi Ambassadors”
that campaigned for the election of
Arc. Namadi Sambo as Kaduna
State governor in the 2006-2007
elections period.
Sambo, who is now Nigeria’s vice
president, denied that report, but
competent security sources and the
Kaduna PDP confirmed it.
Discharging the suspect and his son
today, Justice Nasiru Lere, who
presided over the court, attributed
his decision to the absence of
diligent prosecution.
The Nigerian Army, State Security
Service, Police and Kaduna State
Judiciary were accused of conspiracy
in frustrating the prosecution of the
suspected gunner and his son. One
of Mohammed’s sons, Yusuf,
escaped during the incident in
January, and fired shots before
soldiers overpowered them. Their
action is said to have been part of
the grand design to finally silence
the case.
It would be recalled that on January
17, the Nigerian Army in Kaduna
paraded the suspects before
newsmen stating.
They made the following statement:
“In the course of performing our
duties, the activities of one Alhaji
Nuhu Mohammed Marafa alias
Babawo caught our attention. His
activities necessitated the military
to raid his residence bordered on
issues of national security and
stressed that it had to do with gun-
running and suspected association
with and support for a terrorist
group. After intensive surveillance,
troops of I Mechanised Division
Nigerian Army on January 13 and 14
2012, conducted a search operation
on Marafa’s compound of Marafa,
located at Trikania, opposite IBBL,
Kaduna. Before troops could gain
entrance into the compound, there
was a gunshot fired at the soldiers
from the compound. It was later
revealed that the shot was fired
allegedly by Yusuf Nuhu
Mohammed, Marafa son. Yusuf
escaped with the weapon by scaling
the perimeter wall of the compound.
Yusuf who fired on troops during the
search operation is hereby declared
wanted we are hereby appealing to
law-abiding citizens to assist the law
enforcement agencies with
information that could lead to his
arrest. It must be emphasised at
this stage that investigations are
still ongoing. Ultimately, the
suspects (which include Marafa’s
second son, Musa) would be handed
over to the appropriate authority for
further action at the end of the
investigations”.
The military listed the items that
were recovered as - 9mm
Ammunition (quantity 9), 6mm
Ammunition- (quantity 5), 7.62mm
(special) ammunition, 7.62mm
(NATO) ammunition (quantity 11),
Barrel gun cartridges (quantity 17),
Pump Action gun, Double edged
special axes (quantity 2), machetes
(quantity 3), Improvised Explosive
Devise (IED) bomb in a Mirinda
bottle, bows (metal), and long clubs
(wood).Other military
accoutrements recovered were black
army belt, camouflage belt, two dog
tags belonging to the Nigeria army
D2004/1/5511899 S Adamu and US
Army 84637857 Rambo RH and
Nigerian Army camouflage trousers.