Dokubo: Court Adjourns Case To Feb 5

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has adjourned till February 5, 2007, further hearing in the treason charge brought by the Federal Government against the leader of the Niger Delta People Volunteer Force (NDPVF),Asari Dokubo.

Justice Peter Olayiwola adjourned further hearing on Friday after argument from counsel in the case.

When the matter came up for hearing on November 6, the Federal Government demanded that Dokubo be examined by a qualified psychiatrist before he could continue to stand trial for the treason charges against him.

Federal Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Salihu Aliyu, made the demand shortly after Dokubo accused the Federal Government of lying over his actual whereabouts in court.

This development made Justice Olayiwola reinstate his earlier order that Dokubo be kept in police custody pending the hearing and determination the case.

The judge also also directed that the NDPVF leader be allowed access to his lawyer, doctor and family on the grounds that an accused remains innocent until proved guilty.

Dokubo�s lawyer , Festus Keyamo, who was to furnish the court on the status of the appeal before the Supreme Court, however, asked for a week adjournment to consult with his client whom he averred was kept incommunicado “in an unknown destination” since the last adjourned date.

Keyamo claimed that contrary to court order to remand Dokubo in police custody, he (Dokubo) “was abducted and kept without access to any body.

Describing his client�s ordeals as “bizarre, flagrant disobedience and contempt of court ” on the part of Federal government.

But the DPP who insisted that Dokubo was never out of police custody

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