Justice Tsoho, in a bench ruling, withdrew from the case and ordered the file to be returned to the Acting Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Abdu Kafarati, for reassignment to another judge.
This followed the allegation by six of the eight defendants that the judge was biased against them.
Speaking through their respective lawyers in court on Tuesday, the six defendants said they had lost confidence in Justice Tsoho following the judge’s ruling of April 25, 2017, reversing his earlier decision that they be remanded in prison and that they be held in the custody of the Department of State Service throughout the period of their trial.
Justice Tsoho had, on March 14, after the defendants pleaded not guilty to the 11 counts preferred against them, ordered the defendants to be remanded in Kuje Prison. But on April 25, upon an application by the prosecution, he ordered that they remain in the custody of the DSS.
The defence lawyers, after meeting with the six defendants for about 15 minutes as directed by the judge on Tuesday, also said their clients complained of harsh conditions in the DSS custody, failing health, and deprivation of access to their family members.
Some of the defendants were also said to have claimed that their family members did not know their whereabouts.