Lagos Tribunal Grants Nigerian Army Leave To Recall Witnesses

The Lagos State Tribunal of Inquiry into the July 4 road accident and vandalism of some Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) vehicles on Thursday granted the Nigerian Army leave to recall three witnesses.

The tribunal granted the leave following a request made by the Nigerian Army legal team, led by Lt. Col. Hycinth Ande, that the witnesses be recalled for cross-examination.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports the witnesses – Messrs Razak Mustapha, Ikechukwu Umeaku and Dapo Adediran are employees of Mutual Model Transport Ltd., sub-operators of LAGBUS.

They had earlier testified before the panel, chaired by retired Justice Ebenezer Adebajo, which was set up by the Lagos State Government to unravel the cause of the incident.

The witnesses had claimed that the mayhem was perpetrated by soldiers, who were protesting the death of their colleague, alleged to have been crushed by a BRT bus at Palmgrove Bus Stop, Ikorodu Road, Lagos.

During Thursday’s proceedings, Ande noted that the army was not legally represented when the witnesses gave their evidence due to administrative hiccups.

“As it stands now, we want to take a date to cross-examine all the witnesses and we will equally be asking for copies of all the documents that they tendered before the tribunal.

“We need time to go through the documents to enable us cross-examine the witnesses on them,” he said

In granting the request, Adebajo directed all parties of interest to henceforth produce sufficient copies of all documents they intended to tender before the tribunal.

The chairman also directed the army to provide information relating to the deceased soldier, including the pathologist report, at the next hearing.

In his testimony during the proceedings, Mr Abiodun Apata, Project Manager, Mutual Model Transport Ltd., said a tracking device was installed on Bus MO63, which was involved in the accident that led to the soldier’s death.

Apata, who carried out a demonstration before the tribunal, maintained that the bus broke down and was stationary as at the time of the incident.

He said that the record from the tracker corroborated the testimony of the driver, Mr Zaccheus Folorunsho, that the soldier had rammed his motorcycle against the stationary bus.

NAN reports that the tribunal adjourned sitting till Sept. 22 for further hearing. (NAN)
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