Court rejects bail to terrorist negotiator Mamu

The State Security Services detained and remanded in jail Tukur Mamu, who is accused of being a terrorist negotiator, and Tukur Mamu’s bail application was denied by the Federal High Court in Abuja.

The Department of State Services’ counter-affidavit, which was submitted in opposition to Mamu’s bail plea, convinced the court, according to a judgement by trial Justice Inyang Ekwo.

Mamu’s motion lacked merit, according to Justice Ekwo, and the applicant did not present enough evidence to persuade the court to exercise its discretion in his favor.

He observed that the defendant had not refuted the claims made by the Federal Government that he presented a flight risk and that further crimes were likely to be committed by him.

He said, “Generally, the law is that where averments in a counter affidavit are not countered, they are accepted to be true and correct and they require no further elaboration. This is because facts admitted need no further proof.”

Although the defendant argued that the SSS custody, where he was being held, could not address his medical issues, the judge held that other factors would need to be taken into account before making a decision.

“Again, the court will weigh the evidence to see whether the custodians allow the applicant requisite access to medical treatment peculiar to his medical condition.

“The court will also take into account the attitude of the defendant/applicant to the medical facility provided to him by his custodian.

“Where there is a medical facility by the custodian of the defendant which can adequately take care of the medical condition of the defendant, then the application for bail on medical grounds will not be countenanced by the court,” he said.

“Now, where the defendant willfully rejects the medical facility given to him by his custodian merely for the fact that such facility is not up to the standard that he expects, then, he has no good medical grounds for bail application.

“A defendant who is in the custody of the state or agency of the state like the complainant/respondent must understand that his medical care is at the expense of the state and must be reasonable in his demands,” he said.

The judge noted that evidence before the court revealed that it was after the defendant declined the DSS medical services that he was taken to Arewa Specialist Hospital and Diagnostic Center, Jabi by the security outfit.

“There adequate tests and treatments were administered at the expense of the complainant/applicant and he was diagnosed with Moderate Obstructive Sleep Apnea and the use of Continuous Positive Airway Pressure was recommended, among other options, at the hospital, ” the judge said.

However, he claimed that the DSS had asserted that the hospital was both able and willing to assume responsibility for Mamu’s care and was adequately equipped to handle the defendant’s medical condition.

“A defendant who is in the custody of the state or agency of the state like the complainant/respondent must understand that his medical care is at the expense of the state and must be reasonable in his demands,” Justice Ekwo added.

The trial judge also ruled that Mamu failed to refute the claim that he had previously broken the terms of an administrative release that the DSS had granted him.

He claimed that the DSS’s arguments convinced him that the court should not use its discretion to accept Mamu’s request for bail.

According to the judge, “the discretion of the court to grant bail will not be exercised in favor of the defendant where any of the conditions in Section 162 of the ACJA 2015 Is established” when deciding whether to grant bail based on allegations in a charge sheet that are punishable by imprisonment for a term longer than three years.

“With this undertaking, this application for bail on medical grounds does not hold water.

“This application is consequently refused and Is hereby struck out. This is the order of this court.”

The Federal Government charged Mamu with ten counts, including financing terrorism and supporting terrorist activities in the nation, on March 21.

The Islamic scholar from Kaduna was also charged with soliciting money from the families of the victims of the train bombing on behalf of the Boko Haram terrorist group.

Investigations, according to FG’s testimony in court, showed that the defendant received a total of $420,000 from the relatives of the victims and another N21,000,000 from a different group of train attack victims’ families.

The Federal Government (FG) claimed that the defendant had voice note conversations with one Baba Adamu, who was named as the spokesperson for Boko Haram, in the charge that was signed by the Director of Public Prosecution of the Federation, DPPF, Mr. M.B. Abubakar.

Recall that on September 6, 2022, Mamu was detained in Cairo, Egypt, while en route to Saudi Arabia with his family to do the smaller Hajj.

After being transported back into the nation, the DSS quickly took him into prison and sought a detention order against him.

According to allegations made against him, he persuaded the terrorists to negotiate ransom payments with specific families of the victims of the train attack rather than the Chief of Defense Staff Committee, which the Federal Government had established for his own financial gain.

The terrorists who attacked the train traveling from Abuja to Kaduna and kidnapped numerous people were believed to have nominated him.

Mamu was accused of obtaining ransom payments from hostage families on behalf of the Boko Haram militants, verifying the sum, and facilitating its transfer to the insurgents.