Court Orders DSS to Probe Alleged Leak of Coup Trial Evidence

The Federal High Court in Abuja has directed the Department of State Services (DSS) to investigate the alleged leakage of evidence tendered in the ongoing trial of six men accused of plotting to overthrow the administration of President Bola Tinubu.

Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!

Presiding Judge, Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, gave the directive on Tuesday after the prosecution alleged that some video exhibits admitted in court had surfaced on social media, contrary to an earlier order aimed at protecting witnesses involved in the case.

The judge ordered the DSS to investigate the source of the leaked materials and identify any individual responsible for violating the court’s witness protection directives.

Lead prosecuting counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), informed the court during proceedings that videos tendered as evidence had allegedly been published on social media by a content creator identified as “VeryDarkMan,” who was reportedly present in the courtroom.

Oyedepo urged the court to order an investigation to determine how the sensitive materials found their way into the public domain.

Responding to the allegation, counsel representing the six defendants denied any involvement in the leak. Some defence lawyers urged the prosecution to file a formal application supported by an affidavit to enable them to respond appropriately.

The court subsequently heard applications for bail filed on behalf of the defendants. While defence counsel sought bail on liberal terms, the prosecution opposed the requests and urged the court to reject them.

Justice Abdulmalik adjourned the matter to June 25 and June 30 for the first, second and third defendants to present their defence in the trial-within-trial. The fourth, fifth and sixth defendants are scheduled to open their defence on July 1 and July 2, respectively.

The court also fixed July 20 for ruling on the bail applications.

Earlier in the proceedings, the prosecution sought to tender statements made by the defendants to investigators. The fourth prosecution witness, identified only as “DDD,” told the court that the statements were voluntarily made and that none of the defendants was subjected to torture, coercion or harassment.

The witness rejected allegations that the defendants were chained during interrogation, stating that they walked into the interview room unassisted.

“If their feet had been chained, the sound of the chains would have been heard in the video recordings played before the court,” the witness said.

He further stated that none of the defendants requested the presence of legal counsel, family members, officials of the Legal Aid Council, or a Justice of the Peace during the interview sessions.

Under cross-examination by defence lawyers, the witness acknowledged that the defendants made their statements without the presence of lawyers or other independent witnesses but maintained that the statements were obtained voluntarily.

Following the testimony, the prosecution closed its case in the trial-within-trial after calling four witnesses.

The six defendants are currently facing charges relating to an alleged plot to overthrow the administration of President Bola Tinubu.

The case continues before the Federal High Court in Abuja.