Court Strikes Out Case Against Illegally Detained Journalist For Seven Days by Adaobi Alagwu

Utebor Paul

The Chief Magistrate Court of the Federal Capital Territory, sitting in Wuse Zone 6, Abuja, has struck out a case brought by the Inspector General of Police against Paul Utebor, a reporter, and Ediri Oyibo, the editor of TheNewsGuru.com, due to lack of diligent prosecution.

Presiding over the matter, Chief Magistrate Emmanuel A. Iyanna ruled that the prosecution had abandoned the case, noting that no charge or proof of evidence had been served on the defendants.

At the hearing, the defence counsel, O. Ogbaga, Esq., informed the court that the prosecution had been absent despite being served with a hearing notice and a notice of change of counsel. The last adjournment had been on March 31, 2023, with no further steps taken by the prosecution to advance the case.

Given these circumstances, Ogbaga applied for the case to be struck out and requested the release of an ASUS laptop and an Infinix smartphone confiscated by the police.

In his ruling, Magistrate Iyanna agreed that the prosecution had shown a lack of interest in the matter and formally struck it out. The court also discharged the defendants and ordered the release of their confiscated items.

Recall that in 2023, Utebor Paul and Ediri Oyibo were illegally detained for seven days at the Zone 7 command of the Nigerian Police Force, following false allegations levelled against them by Adaobi Alagwu.