Following their absence from court, the trial of 11 defendants charged with the murder of Arise News anchor Somtochukwu Maduagwu was halted on Monday at the High Court in Jabi, Abuja.
Sani Surajo, Hassan Isah, Abubakar Alkamu, Shamsu Hassan, and Abdulsalam Saleh were all charged by the Commissioner of Police with nine counts of armed robbery and culpable homicide, which carries a death sentence.
Suleiman Sani, Abubakar Usman, Zaradeen Mohammed, Musa Umar, Mashikur Jamil, and Suleiman Badamosi were also charged.
Adama Musa, the prosecution’s attorney, informed the court that the defendants were not brought because the officers at the detention institution said they were not aware of the date of the hearing.
“The prosecution has four witnesses in court today that we went above and beyond to make sure were there; they left their offices to appear in court,” Musa stated.
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Justice Mohammed Idris, the trial judge, asked the witnesses to come back to court on February 10th for the trial and postponed the case until then.
The prosecution claimed that on September 29, 2025, the defendants broke into Unique Apartment in Katampe, Abuja, with guns, machetes, knives, and charms, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
They are accused of pushing Maduagwu to jump from a three-story structure, which resulted in her suffering fatal injuries.
Additionally, the defendants were charged with shooting Barnabas Danlami, who subsequently passed away from his wounds.
Musa further claimed that after threatening to kill her and her family, the defendants stole a white Honda CRV, a Samsung phone, an iPhone, a Lenovo laptop, and ₦80,000 in cash from Ms. Fatou Toborteh.
Additionally, they are accused of stealing a MacBook Air and a Samsung S25 phone worth ₦5.2 million from Sani Yusuf, as well as three cell phones and a laptop from David Osas, who all lived in the aforementioned residence.
Under threat of death, Onah George, another resident, was allegedly robbed of his iPad, iPhone 14, and Amazon Kardon speaker.
He added that between September 29 and October 20, 2025, the defendants were detained in possession of a fake AK-47 rifle and a pump-action gun without a license.
The prosecution claimed that the offenses violated Sections 221 of the Penal Code, 1(2)(a) of the Robbery and Firearms Act, 1997, and 6(a)(b)(c).
At arraignment, however, the defendants entered a not guilty plea to the allegations.
