Bamaiyi: Court rejects video evidence

Akeem Nafiu, Lagos - 28.02.2008

The trial of the former Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Ishaya Bamaiyi over his alleged role in the assassination attempt on the life of the publisher of The Guardian newspaper, Mr. Alex Ibru, continued on Wednesday at an Ikeja High Court with Justice Kayode Oyewole rejecting the video recording of the proceedings at the sittings of the Special Investigative Panel (SIP) that investigated the matter that was brought to the court as an exhibit by the prosecution.

Earlier, the defence counsel, Mr. Osahon Idemudia, had argued that the tape could not be tendered as an exhibit because the state has not produced the cameraman that did the recording.

Idemudia, citing many authorities to buttress his claims, stated that the competent person that should tender the tape was the person who recorded it.

”The state had not shown that the video tape has not been tampered with and whether it has been edited, pasted or not,” he said.

He insisted that to the extent that the tape did not have a maker, it was not admissible in the court as an exhibit.