YELWATA KILLINGS TRIAL HALTED AS DEFENDANT COLLASPE IN COURT

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The trial of people connected to the 2025 Yelwata killings stopped on Tuesday because one of the accused fell down in court.

Nine defendants — Ardo Lawal Mohammed Dono, Ardo Muhammadu Saidu, Alhaji Haruna Abdullahi, Yakubu Adamu, Musa Mohammed, Abubakar Adamu, Shaibu Ibrahim, Sale Mohammed, and Bako Jibrin — are being charged with 57 counts that are related to terrorism.

The disruption occurred when Abdullahi, the third defendant, suddenly collapsed shortly after the defendants were brought into the courtroom around 10am.

Prison staff tried to wake him up and took him back to his chair, but he didn’t respond.

Later, when the case was brought up, Judge Joyce Abdulmalik said the defendant wasn’t there. “You can’t say he’s here,” the judge said, explaining that he had “been like that for more than an hour.”

Rotimi Oyedepo, director of public prosecutions, told the court that prison authorities confirmed that the defendant was in stable condition before arriving in court.

Ahmed Muhammad, counsel to the third defendant, urged the court to adjourn to allow immediate medical attention.

“The third defendant came in by himself, but unfortunately, he collapsed. We humbly request that he be taken to a facility for treatment,” he said.

Ibrahim Angulu, another defence lawyer, also pressed for treatment on humanitarian grounds.

“Human beings are very fragile. If he is pretending, when we get to the hospital, they will tell us, because one has to be alive to face trial,” he said.

Oyedepo subsequently applied for an adjournment to enable prison officials to attend to the defendant — a request the court granted.

Abdulmalik adjourned the matter to March 30 for continuation of proceedings and directed that hearing notices be served on absent defence counsel.

The defendants were arraigned on February 2 over the attack which left 150 people dead in Yelwata community, Benue state.

They all pleaded not guilty to the charges.

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