{"id":196849,"date":"2026-03-17T02:09:33","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T01:09:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/court-orders-trial-within-trial-over-alleged-confessions"},"modified":"2026-03-17T03:28:58","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T02:28:58","slug":"court-orders-trial-within-trial-over-alleged-confessions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/court-orders-trial-within-trial-over-alleged-confessions","title":{"rendered":"Court Orders Trial Within Trial Over Alleged Confessions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>The Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered a trial-within-trial to determine the admissibility of confessional statements allegedly made by two defendants standing trial over an attack on a Nigerian Army formation in Wawa in 2020.<\/p>\n

The ruling was delivered by Justice Emeka Nwite after defence counsel challenged the statements, arguing they were not voluntarily made.<\/p>\n

Zagazola Makama reports that during the proceedings, a prosecution witness told the court that the second defendant admitted participating in the attack, which allegedly led to the death of several soldiers.<\/p>\n

According to the witness, the defendants also confessed to kidnapping the in-law of former Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, identified as Alhaji Musa Umar Uba, as well as an immigration officer and a customs officer.<\/p>\n

The witness further testified that the second defendant confessed to swearing allegiance to Jama\u2019at Nusrat al\u2010Islam wal\u2010Muslimin, which allegedly supplied the group with arms and ammunition.<\/p>\n

Counsel to the defendants, Bala Dakum, opposed the admissibility of the alleged confessional statements and sought to have them excluded from evidence.<\/p>\n

However, the prosecution counsel argued that the statements were obtained in line with the law.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe defendants\u2019 statements were obtained without coercion, in the presence of a lawyer from the Legal Aid Council, in compliance with the provisions of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act,\u201d the prosecution maintained.<\/p>\n

In a brief ruling, Justice Nwite ordered that a trial-within-trial be conducted to determine whether the statements were voluntarily made and therefore admissible in court.<\/p>\n

The matter was subsequently adjourned to April 13, 2026, for the commencement of the trial-within-trial.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Nigeria<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Nigeria. The Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered a trial-within-trial to determine the admissibility of confessional statements allegedly made by two defendants standing trial over an attack on a Nigerian Army formation in Wawa in 2020. The ruling was delivered by Justice Emeka Nwite after defence counsel challenged the statements, arguing they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":196848,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,14],"tags":[254],"class_list":["post-196849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-nigeria"],"yoast_head":"\nCourt Orders Trial Within Trial Over Alleged Confessions - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered a trial-within-trial to determine the admissibility of confessional statemen ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/court-orders-trial-within-trial-over-alleged-confessions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Court Orders Trial Within Trial Over Alleged Confessions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered a trial-within-trial to determine the admissibility of confessional statemen ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/court-orders-trial-within-trial-over-alleged-confessions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-17T01:09:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-17T02:28:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2026\/03\/sm_1773714387.427095.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/court-orders-trial-within-trial-over-alleged-confessions#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/court-orders-trial-within-trial-over-alleged-confessions\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Court Orders Trial Within Trial Over Alleged Confessions\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-17T01:09:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-17T02:28:58+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/court-orders-trial-within-trial-over-alleged-confessions\"},\"wordCount\":277,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/court-orders-trial-within-trial-over-alleged-confessions#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2026\/03\/sm_1773714387.427095.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Nigeria\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/court-orders-trial-within-trial-over-alleged-confessions#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/court-orders-trial-within-trial-over-alleged-confessions\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/court-orders-trial-within-trial-over-alleged-confessions\",\"name\":\"Court Orders Trial Within Trial Over Alleged Confessions - 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