Three of the six persons detained for allegedly belonging to the Kogi State Boko Haram faction were on Thursday discharged by the Abuja Federal High Court due to lack of evidence. However, charges were filed against three other suspects.
The State Security Service (SSS) informed the court that there was no evidence against Mustapha Yusuf, Ismaila Abdulazeez and Ibrahim Isa Hayafu. The trial judge Justice Gabriel Kolawole has subsequently discharged them.
However, charges had been filed against the other three suspects, Umar Musa, Salami Abdullahi and Dr. Nazeef Yunus, an Assistant Lecturer in Arabic and Islamic Studies at the Kogi State University.
It will be recalled that the Federal Government had been ordered by the court on January 13 to charge the suspects within seven days. Otherwise, they would be freed at the resumption of proceedings in the case on Thursday.
After informing the court that charges have been filed against the suspects, the SSS applied for the leave of the court to further detain them until their arraignment.
The matter was adjourned to January 28, with Yunus and the two other suspects remaining in custody of the SSS.
UPDATE: One of the suspects still remaining in custody, Salami Abdullahi, a businessman accused of sponsoring Boko Haram activities in Kogi State has sued the SSS at the Federal High Court, Abuja. He demands N10bn for "unlawful arrest and detention."
Mr. Abdullahi is the Chief Executive and Managing Director of ASTA Nigeria group. He was apprehended at one of his filing stations in October 2013 by combined forces of the operatives of the SSS, soldiers and police. He claims he has been detained without trial since then.
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