A Federal High Court sitting in Jos has ordered the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of Barau Dikko Specialist Hospital, Kaduna, to appear before it on Jan. 29, 2020 to explain the cause of the alleged death of a suspect in Police custody.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that on Oct. 29, the Police, through its counsel, Mr Joshua Ayanna, told the court that the suspect, Mr Nanpon Sambo, fell ill and died while in custody. They had claimed that Sambo, who is facing prosecution over illegal possession of fire arm, took ill and was rushed to the said hospital in Kaduna, where he died.
Justice Dorcas Agishi, the presiding Judge, Federal High Court 1, on Wednesday ordered the CMD to appear before it to confirm Sambo’s death with details on how and cause of his death.
NAN reports that the judge gave the order after Sambo’s Counsel, Mr N.S. Dafam, made an application for an order for the Hospital CMD to appear in court to confirm the Police claims on death of Sambo through the Hospital’s records.
Dafam had made application after Ayanna had withdrawn his motion seeking for stay of order to the I-G and Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Abba Kyari, Officer in Charge of Intelligence Response Team (IRT), to appear before the court to explain why contempt charge would not be slammed on them for disobeying its order.
“The CMD of Barau Dikko Specialist Hospital, Kaduna is hereby ordered to appear before this honourable Court on Jan. 29, 2020 in person or through any senior medical representative of his choosing to confirm on oath whether any person with the name Nanpon Sambo was rushed, pronounced dead and an autopsy carried out on his body.
“The CMD is also hereby ordered to also answer any other question pertaining to what the hospital did or know about the case,” Agishi said.
Earlier, on commencement of sitting, Ayanna, had applied for the withdrawal of his motion of the I-G and Abba Kyari, seeking for stay of execution of the earlier order of court made on Oct. 29, directing the production of Nanpon Sambo dead or alive.
The application, followed a challenge put up by Sambo’s Counsel, Dafam, who described it as incompetent having been characterised by several defects. According to him, instead of writing Applicant for the I-G and DCP Abba Kyari as the persons seeking for stay of execution, he (Ayanna) wrote appellants for them.
“And the federal high court Jos is not sitting on appeal in that case nor is it an appellate court. The second defect with his motion is that the suit Number on his motion, which is a different suit Number from the suit Number of this case. Instead of 106 he wrote 109,” Dafam argued.
He had also raised a point of law, as to whether any kind of stay could be granted at the interlocutory level in a criminal matter. Consequently, Ayanna applied to the court to withdraw his defective motion and same was granted and struck out accordingly for being incompetent.
Justice Agishi, however, adjourned the case adjourned to Jan. 29, 2020 for continuation of hearing.
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