Hopes of journalists and other media enthusiasts were today dashed as the trial of the prime suspects of the Ile-Ife mayhem was stalled again.
The vehicle that conveyed the suspects
The much anticipated trial of the six suspects arrested by the police in connection with the Ile Ife clash of March 8 has been stalled again.
The trial has been postponed till tomorrow, Thursday. The suspects were brought to court before 9am but they could not be brought before the judge due to what the Defence counsel, Mr. Muritala Agboola, called procedural error on the part of the prosecution team.
The defence counsel while addressing journalists said the prosecutors were expected to have come before the court with a motion seeking the judge’s consent when the suspects were brought on Tuesday but they did not.
He said they had been given the consent now and he said the suspects would be brought to the court again tomorrow. He described the delay in the commencement of the trial as justice delayed, saying the suspects had been in police custody for well over a month.
Counsel for the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Simon Lough, said the judge had yet to give directive for the commencement of the sitting.
He said the judge had the absolute power to determine when the sitting would start.
The suspects, Oba Ademola Ademiluyi; Pastor Taiwo Fakuwajo; Akeem Eluwole; Jimoh Bakiru; Daniel Olanrewaju and Bamidele Elusanmi were inside the white Toyota Hiace bus which brought them to the court for almost three hours before counsels knew that the trial would no longer hold today.