Court Adjourns Trial of Two #BuhariMustGo Protesters Arrested In Kogi as Prosecutor Fails to Produce Witnesses

A Magistrate Court sitting in Lokoja, Kogi State, has adjourned the trial of two #BuhariMustGo protesters to October 7, 2021 over the failure of the government to produce their witnesses in court.

The court, on Tuesday, resumed trial of Larry Emmanuel and Anene Victor Udoka after being granted bail following 78-days detention.

SaharaReporters gathered that the trial could not continue because the prosecutor said their witnesses were not in court.

“The prosecutor said they can't continue because their witnesses were not in court, the police IPO who was served said they were on special operations the other witness cannot be traced and he's not served. He further said the witness number was not going and he doesn't even know his address but he will look for him.

“The state counsel then asked for adjournment, the defendants moved a motion at the last adjournment that the state was not ready and they ask for adjournment, the defendants quotes Section 398, and he said he want the court to invoke Section 398 by imposing cost from the prosecution witness which should be paid through the prosecutor.

“He said coming to court should be special assignment for the police, and he quoted Section 398, alternatively the defendants are coming from far distance of not that the state kept them in their custody and don't want the matter struck out.

“This is the first time to the prosecutor raised an adjournment, the application cannot stand, if the state cannot prosecute the defendants, then the court will take its course. The court adjourned till 7th October,” the lawyer of the activists told SaharaReporters.

In April, violent youths had descended on the two middle-aged protesters who were pasting Buhari-Must-Go posters in Lokoja, the Kogi to State capital.

SaharaReporters learned that the irate mob flogged the two youths, filmed them, and brutalized them before they were later handed over to the police.

It was gathered that the police thereafter quizzed the two protesters and detained them when they insisted on seeing their lawyer before making a statement.

In some viral videos, the protesters were seen being molested and questioned by the mob before they were flogged as the youths forced them to clean their painting of “Buhari Must Go.”