Nigerian Judiciary Again in Spotlight: Kaduna Gunrunners Set Free Despite Being Found With Weapons By The Army

Alhaji Nuhu Mohammed, who was last January arrested on gunrunning charges, has been set free by a Kaduna Magistrate Court.


On January 15, SaharaReporters exclusively reported that there were influential forces working against the prosecution of Mohammed, a top Peoples Democratic Party’s chieftain. The deal to set him free was concluded this morning and he walked out of the courtroom at Ibrahim Taiwo Road along with his son.
SaharaReporters had exclusively in a subsequent report identified him as head of a campaign organization christened “Namadi Ambassadors” that campaigned for the election of Arc. Namadi Sambo as Kaduna State governor in the 2006-2007 elections period.

Sambo, who is now Nigeria’s vice president, denied that report, but competent security sources and the Kaduna PDP confirmed it.

Discharging the suspect and his son today, Justice Nasiru Lere, who presided over the court, attributed his decision to the absence of diligent prosecution.

The Nigerian Army, State Security Service, Police and Kaduna State Judiciary were accused of conspiracy in frustrating the prosecution of the suspected gunner and his son. One of Mohammed’s sons, Yusuf, escaped during the incident in January, and fired shots before soldiers overpowered them. Their action is said to have been part of the grand design to finally silence the case.

It would be recalled that on January 17, the Nigerian Army in Kaduna paraded the suspects before newsmen stating.

They made the following statement: “In the course of performing our duties, the activities of one Alhaji Nuhu Mohammed Marafa alias Babawo caught our attention. His activities necessitated the military to raid his residence bordered on issues of national security and stressed that it had to do with gun-running and suspected association with and support for a terrorist group. After intensive surveillance, troops of I Mechanised Division Nigerian Army on January 13 and 14 2012, conducted a search operation on Marafa’s compound of Marafa, located at Trikania, opposite IBBL, Kaduna. Before troops could gain entrance into the compound, there was a gunshot fired at the soldiers from the compound. It was later revealed that the shot was fired allegedly by Yusuf Nuhu Mohammed, Marafa son. Yusuf escaped with the weapon by scaling the perimeter wall of the compound. Yusuf who fired on troops during the search operation is hereby declared wanted we are hereby appealing to law-abiding citizens to assist the law enforcement agencies with information that could lead to his arrest. It must be emphasised at this stage that investigations are still ongoing. Ultimately, the suspects (which include Marafa’s second son, Musa) would be handed over to the appropriate authority for further action at the end of the investigations”.

The military listed the items that were recovered as - 9mm Ammunition (quantity 9), 6mm Ammunition- (quantity 5), 7.62mm (special) ammunition, 7.62mm (NATO) ammunition (quantity 11), Barrel gun cartridges (quantity 17), Pump Action gun, Double edged special axes (quantity 2), machetes (quantity 3), Improvised Explosive Devise (IED) bomb in a Mirinda bottle, bows (metal), and long clubs (wood).Other military accoutrements recovered were black army belt, camouflage belt, two dog tags belonging to the Nigeria army D2004/1/5511899 S Adamu and US Army 84637857 Rambo RH and Nigerian Army camouflage trousers.