The trial of the Ekiti State Chairman of the Action Congress of Nigeria, Chief Jide Awe, could not hold on Wednesday due to the petition written to the National Judicial Council by one Pa Gabriel Adewumi.
A source told journalists at the court that the trial could not go on because of the petition written against the chief magistrate by a party to the case. He said the chief magistrate did not want to preempt the outcome of the NJC's decision on the matter which, he said, stalled the trial.
Awe, John Faboro, Basiru Aniramu, Sefiu Owonifari and Busuyi Falae were arraigned before Chief Magistrate Richard Adegboye in Ado Ekiti on May 6 in connection with the murder of Mr. Ayo Jeje, who was said to be planning to defect to the Peoples Democratic Party.
Jeje was shot dead in Erinjiyan Ekiti, Awe's hometown on March 31 by some hoodlums.
But Adewumi, in his petition, had claimed that his wife, Juliana, and his son Gbenga, were also shot and injured by the hoodlums during the crisis, which claimed Jeje's life. He alleged that the chief magistrate was wrong to have allowed Awe and others to enjoy unconditional bail.
The petition read in part, "I am complaining against the action of a judge of Ado Ekiti Chief Magistrate Court, Mr. Adesoji Adegboye, who granted or agreed to an administrative bail earlier granted to an accused person for murder on Monday May 6, 2013.
"I am calling on the National Judicial Council and the Chief Justice of Nigeria to kindly look into the activities of the chief magistrate that granted bail to the murder suspects relying on the administrative bail earlier given to the accessed persons by the police."
The Punch