A Kaduna State High Court presided over by Justice Hannatu Balogun on Monday ordered three sureties to produce 63 members of the Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky-led by the Islamic Movement in Nigeria.

The three sureties stood in for the 63 accused minors arrested during the December 12, 2015 Shiites and Army clash.

The three sureties, Musa Usman, Muhktar M.Sherrif and Khalid Isah, however, pretended not to be standing surety for the accused.

They claimed that the police merely asked them to facilitate the release of the accused minors and women from detention in the state.

The accused persons were charged with culpable homicide punishable by death.

One of the sureties, Khalid Isah was not in court. Musa Usman, who spoke in court on their behalf, said they only obeyed the police order so that the accused persons could be released, not necessarily filling a bail application for them.

However, the prosecuting lawyer, Dari Bayero, told the court that it was not possible that the police could release accused persons to any body without bail application signed by a surety.

He tendered before the court a bail application duly signed by Musa Usman with his passport photograph attached.

“I know how much I suffered before I got the sureties to court, so I am not surprised at their attempt to deny the bail application,” Bayero told the court.

When the bail application was shown to him by the court, Usman confirmed that it was his signature and passport but denied the signature on the first page of the application.

He said those(accused persons) he stood in for are between the ages of 9-17 years, accepting to bring them to court if given enough period to do so.

But the defence counsel, Mr. Festus Okoye, argued that an assistance for bail does not in a anyway amount to being a surety.

“If the Commissioner of Police asked persons to assist the accused for a bail, it does not amount to being a surety,” Okoye said.

The presiding Judge asked the sureties how much time they needed to produce the accused persons before the court.

Usman demanded 30 days duration to bring the accused minors to court.

Asked if he would object to the 30 days as requested by the sureties, the prosecuting lawyer said no.

The Judge then granted the sureties 30 days to produce the accused persons in court.

Justice Balogun after hearing argument by both the presecuting and defence lawyers, adjourned the case till June 20, 2016 to enable the sureties produce the accused persons in court.

(Source: PUNCH)