Retired Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG), Joseph Mbu, has been charged with murder at the Cross River State High Court.
Presided over yesterday by Justice Samuel Anjoh of High Court II Calabar, in Suit No: HC/40C/2021, the court arraigned Mbu for allegedly shooting one Mr. Ayuk Etta Ngon to death in 2018.
The charge sheet stated, “Mbu will give an answer to what happened on December 24, 2018 at Ndung Stream Road, Bendegbe Ekiem where Ngon was murdered.”
The state government, which is prosecuting the retired police officer through the Department of Public Prosecution, said Mbu was charged for murder “contrary to Section 319(1) of the Criminal Code, Cap C16, Vol. 3, Laws of Cross River State of Nigeria 2004.”
Challenging the jurisdiction of the court, counsel to the defendant, Agan Teke, said his team had filed a motion to the court demanding a proper investigation to the matter before bringing it forward for hearing.
“We are challenging the jurisdiction of the court to entertain the matter because the alleged crime was said to have been committed in Etung Local Government Area. The Etung Judicial Division has a High Court, so, why bringing it to Calabar Judicial Division?
“The second issue is that necessary investigation has not been conducted before the prosecution decided to bring the matter to court. The information presented by the prosecution is defective in substance.
“Besides, the substituted mode of service is not acceptable. There is nothing to show that there was any attempt to serve the retired AIG in his house or even to look for him.”
Barr C.A Adams, who stood in for the prosecution team, declined comment when approached for more clarification on the suit, saying his superiors would have to give him permission to speak.
However, the prosecution team has filed a counter charge challenging the defendant’s lawyer on their claims.
In the counter charge, the prosecution argued that they were in the position to file any matter against any individual, whether the police investigated it or not, and on the issue of why bring the case to Calabar High Court, the prosecution team stated that the High Court of the state remained the same, so they had the right to choose where to go.
