There was mild drama at the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Tuesday when presiding judge, Emeka Nwite ordered litigants and parties not directly involved in the alleged drug trafficking case against suspended deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari, to leave the courtroom including those who have pending matters before him.
The order followed an application filed by the applicant, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, requesting protection of their witnesses.
Nwite granted the application on Tuesday and the court rose for some minutes so that other lawyers, visitors and journalists could go out.
The registrar announced that other lawyers who have no business in Kyari’s case should step forward and take another date for their cases.
This provoked one of the lawyers who started railing in court, wondering why he should be asked to take another date, adding court should not be giving preference to some “VIP” cases.
The judge returned to the courtroom after parties refused to leave.
One of the lawyers, Oluwabiyi Emmanuel, whose case was on the cause list for the day’s proceedings, lamented before the judge that it was difficult for him to take another date.
The judge responded that if lawyers who had matters before him could wait outside until after Kyari’s session, that would be fine.
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“It is a standing order of the court,” the judge said before he rose up and returned to his chambers for his order to be complied with.
After the court rose, the NDLEA counsel, Sunday Joseph told newsmen that his application bordered on the protection of his witnesses.
According to him, several members of the Police division of the Intelligence Response Team, IRT, are loyal to Kyari and have been observing the proceedings, thereby making witnesses to be afraid.
“We are entering into the nitty gritty of the case where we will bring in bank documents, and the witnesses are afraid,” Joseph said.
The judge’s order was complied with by journalists and others as proceedings on NDLEA’s case against Kyari resumed.
THE WHISTLER earlier reported that Kyari and six others were on March 14, 2022 arraigned before the court by the NDLEA for tampering with the 21.35 kilogrammes of cocaine seized from suspected traffickers.
Co-defendants in the case include officers Sunday Ubia, Bawa James, Simon Agirigba, and John Nuhu.
But they pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Two civilians among those arraigned had pleaded guilty to possessing hard drugs and were accordingly sentenced to prison.
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