Yakubu Busari
A Plateau State High Court sitting in Jos on Monday has adjourned to the 23rd February ,2023 for Shehu Jatau & 3 others to open their defence in the alleged 8-count charges of culpable homicide ,criminal conspiracy ,unlawful possession of firearms ,abduction /kidnapping,inciting general public, unlawful assembly ,Unlawful use of ammunition and ,attempt to commit homicide on 30th October, 2019
Shehu Jatau and 3 others were charged with the murder, attacking the communities in Wadata -Kasuwa ,Jawuri, and its environs which he denied of involving in any criminal act of killing and maiming the Tarok-speaking natives in Wase LGA .
Justice S.P.Gang had fixed January 6th for defendants to state their case after the Prosecution Counsel, Edwind Enegbemoire , closed his case after calling Prosecution Witness at least 8 witnesses .
The DW1, Shehu Jatau says ,he was in Jalingo ,Taraba state when a call came from the Emir of Wase LGA inviting him for a meeting in Abuja on 29th of October,2019 ,and at that period the place was getting darker, so I told him that presently that I don’t have the transport fare to reach Abuja.
According to him ,the Emir immediately sent me money through my account and we boarded the next available flight to arrive Abuja at about 8 pm to 10 pm Nigeria local time.
He stated that their late arrival led to the rescheduling of the meeting for the following day which is 30th of October ,2019 where we met with the Longmai of Shendam and vividly explained that the meeting is at instance of Governor Simon Lalong towards resolving the lingering crises in Kadarko district of Wase LGA between himself and the Ponzhi Lot Nden .
Jatau told the court that the Ponzhi Lot Nden committed five offenses, part of which is asking the people of Jawuri to steal his woods 1805 , in 2016 at Nagane community for roofing of their primary school .The Second incident was the physical attack on him and his boys in Wadata Kasuwa and the youth leader of Dokfa where Nanju Isah was critically injured including me.
Mr Sohle and his gang group surrounded us with guns as they opened firearm on us at a closed range, shooting us with live ammunition, which we managed to escape their onslaught
Led in evidence by Shehu Jatau , he told the court that on 13th of October, 2019, he was at a football competition at Jawuri playing ground when some persons led by kumyer started shooting sporadically inside the field, two of them were holding bottles and knives, with which they attacked him but he escaped with various degree of injuries in his hand.
However, one of the boys rushed me to Wadata for treatment and another issue was we went to the market to purchase insecticide to spray on the farm the boy was abducted by unknown gunmen.
Jatau stated that as a responsible family man with eight wives and 30 children, when one of the daughters was sick, they attack him where his animals were killed and the whole compound in wadata Kasuwa was set ablaze.
He told the court that on the 30th of October, 2019 after the meeting they were about to leave the venue when some security personnel arrested five of them ,Nanjul ,Nankat ,Tanko ,Nanyak ,Changkat and myself Shehu where we spent 10 months in one dark underground building before transferring us to the DSS office in Jos .
We arrive at the STF on the 30th of August, 2020 since then we have been on detention.
The police alleged that the defendants on March 20, 2019 conspired to commit the offence of culpable homicide.
The police further alleged that the three defendants caused the death of many innocent Tarok sons and daughters who might have been cut off from a web of brutality .
The offence, according to the prosecution , is punishable under sections 97 and 221 of the Penal Code Law.
