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Court grants withdrawal of firearm charges against Emefiele
The application for withdrawal was formally submitted by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and has been accepted by Justice Nicholas Oweibo, who presided over the proceedings.
In his ruling on Thursday, Justice Nicholas held that Section 108 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) empowers DPP to initiate the withdrawal of charges, and there was no requirement for the application to be in writing.
In allowing the withdrawal of the charge, the judge, however, questioned what good it would do to the defence if the court did not permit the withdrawal of the charge.
At the last proceedings yesterday, Justice Nicholas Oweibo, who is sitting as a vacation judge, fixed yesterday for hearing the applications filed by both parties in the suit.
The defence had prayed for the quashing of the charge for the alleged failure of the prosecution to obey the court order granting bail to the defendant.
The prosecution, on the other hand, opposed the request via leave of court.
In today’s ruling, Justice Oweibo criticised the conduct of the prosecution, stating that their actions indicated they are not law-abiding and had no respect for the court.
“The court cannot force them. What good will it be for the defendant who is in custody? Of what benefit will it be to keep the file in the court’s docket?,” Justice Oweibo added.
According to him, the proper thing is to allow them to withdraw the charge; they can simply abandon it, and the court will still have to strike it out for lack of diligent prosecution.
“The application to withdraw is hereby granted.” he declared.
