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From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
The Deputy President, Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers( NUPENG), Olujide Solomon Kilanko, yesterday ,gave graphic details of how he was attacked by former national chairman of the Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) branch of the union, Lucky Osesua and 20 others at the national secretariat of the PTD- NUPENG in Abuja.
Kilanko was testifying before Justice Yusuf Halilu of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, where Osesua and 20 others are standing trial on a five-count charge bordering on attempted murder, breach of peace, and assault. in charge number: FCT/HC/CR/042/2023.
According to charge marked FCT/HC/CR/042/2023, the defendants were alleged to have, on November 1, 2023, attacked NUPENG President, William Akporeha; the union’s Secretary-General, Olawale Afolabi; and the PTD National Chairman, Augustine Egbon (now deceased), acting in a manner likely to cause their death, among other offences.
Other defendants included Dayyabu Garga, Humble Obinna, Akinolu Olabisi, Godwin Nwaka, Tiamiu Sikiru, Abdulmimin Shaibu, John Amajuoyi, Zaira Aregbo, Patrick Erhivwor, Stephen Ogheneruemu, Gift Ukponku, Sunday Ezeocha, and seven others.
They have since pleaded not guilty to the charges upon their arraignment.
At the resumed trial yesterday, the third prosecution witness (PW3), Comrade Kilanko narrated how on November 1, 2023, Osesua led the other 20 defendants to ambush and attack him; Akporeha; Afolabi and the late Egbon at the union secretariat located in Abuja.
He said the defendants along with thugs they mobilised to the union secretariat were armed with stones, sticks, broken concretes which they used to attack him and three others.
He said: “That morning in company of my President, Comrade Akporeha we were in a vehicle along with General Secretary, Afolabi Olawale and the late Comrade Augustine Egbon.
“We arrived at No 50 Majekodunmi Cresent Utako, Abuja. The driver used to press the horn two times and the gate would be opened. This time around, no response from the gate and Afolabi went down from the car. There was no response and the president too went down to join him. That was when I looked up and saw that Comrade Lucky Osesua and few others were also at the gate. I had to go down too to join them.
“I saw Comrade Osesua saying they have come. That made me to look down the direction he signaled to and saw the rest defendants now coming with stones, sticks, broken concretes.
“When I noticed what they were holding, I had to struggle through the pedestrian gate to enter. As I pushed back, Osesua and Sylvanus held Afolabi down at the security gate.”
He added that when he entered the premises, he passed through the back of the sixth and nineth defendants who blocked him and said he won’t go.
According to him, “As I was arguing with them that I would pass, they started beating me. They hit my legs, lips. When the beating was getting too much, then I turned and wanted to go back outside, not inside again.
“It was one of them that hit the back of my head with either stone or wood, I fell outside on the floor. I fell unconscious. They still kicked me.
“Few minutes later, I started hearing sound and that brought me up again. I saw across the road, Comrade Afolabi down on the pedestrian floor. I had to manage to get up. I moved towards the side of the office fence.”
The PW3 said his first effort to escape was frustrated by the defendants who blocked a vehicle that could have taken him away.
“By the roadside, I saw a car that parked and a driver standing by the car. Because I was wounded, I begged the driver to move me out of the place. He agreed.
“As he was making U-turn to get out of the place, Olabisi Akinlolu (4th defendant) and Sikiru Tiamiyu ( 9th defendant) saw me and called other defendants, shouting my name.
“They stopped the driver and further threatened the driver with sharp objects. Before I could open the door, Dele Nwaka (5th defendant) smashed the windscreen of the car so I had to leave the car.
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“Before I could open the door, they dragged me down from the car and started beating me again. The beating stopped when someone among them cautioned that I could die,” he told the court.
He said despite his condition, he still ran to hide himself and later saw a tricycle, which he asked to take him out of the place.
Kilanko also told the court that a member of the union he had earlier frantically called for help later responded and sent a driver to pick him.
“I could only remember that I woke up at a private hospital.
“The police came to the hospital and took me, Afolabi and Akporeha to their office. When I was asked to make statement, I could only dictate.”
The prosecution counsel, David Kaswe, tendered the witness’s hospital card and statement made to the police. These were admitted by the court as exhibits in the matter.
When asked under cross examination by counsel for the defendants, Christopher Oshomegie SAN, to mention the names and number of the doctors that treated him, Kilanko maintained his claim that he was unconscious.
According to him, he did not know how he got to the hospital, adding that he only woke up to see that he was being attended to by a medical doctor.
“I don’t know the number. I didn’t even know how I got to the hospital. When I woke up, I could only observe that one medical doctor was attending to me,” he told the court.
Asked why his statement at the police station was not as detailed as the account he gave before the court, the PW3 restated that the statement was written for him by the police, saying that, “I was too tired to write. They were asking me questions and I was responding.”
Earlier in the proceedings, the prosecution counsel, Kaswe, had sought the revocation of the bail of the first defendant, Lucky Osesua accusing him of breaching terms and conditions of his bail.
The defence counsel, however, objected to this, describing the demand for revocation of his client’s bail as reprehensible.
“Why are they asking that their bail be revoked when they have been denied access to the depots? It is an act of inhumanity to demand that their bail be revoked. What have they done? What offense have they committed and you are asking that their bail be revoked?”, the senior advocate asked.
The judge, however, held that there was no inhumanity in the prosecuting counsel’s request for revocation of the first defendant’s bail.
According to him, the prosecutor had the right to ask for the revocation of the defendant’s bail and held that a defendant’s relationship is with the court as long as they do not breach any terms of their bail condition.
While saying that the prosecutor has not done anything wrong asking the court to revoke the first defendant’s bail, the judge insisted that bail is a constitutional right of the defendants.
“He (prosecutor) has all the right to ask that I revoked a bail but he ought to have shared with you. I always tell defendants that your relationship is between you and the court, not your lawyer. Your bail is your constitutional right but on terms that you don’t breach the contractual agreement.
“So, I insist that Kaswe hasn’t done anything wrong by bringing it to my attention. He should have informed me or write formally to the court. So, Kaswe hasn’t done anything wrong. I am the judge here.
“The fact that he said he will write an application to revoke a bail doesn’t mean that I will grant it. But it is his right.”
Meanwhile, Justice Halilu has adjourned the case to April 28 for continuation of trial.
