A Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the Chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, Buba Marwa, to produce the list of personnel who were on duty at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, on January 19, 2022, in the trial of suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari and others.

Justice Emeka Nwite gave the order on Monday after counsel to Kyari and Inspector Simon Agirgba, Julius Mba, informed the court that the defence had obtained a subpoena requiring the NDLEA to produce the documents.

The subpoena duces tecum, which was filed on September 30 and signed by the judge on October 2, directs the NDLEA to produce certified true copies of the roster for inspection and use by the court. Mba said the document is required for the defence of Kyari and Agirgba.

Kyari, former head of the defunct Police Intelligence Response Team, IRT, is standing trial alongside four other suspended IRT officers – ACP Sunday J. Ubua, ASP Bawa James, Inspector Simon Agirgba and Inspector John Nuhu – over allegations that they tampered with cocaine recovered from two convicted drug traffickers, Chibunna Umeibe and Emeka Ezenwanne, at the Enugu airport.

Umeibe and Ezenwanne, listed as the sixth and seventh defendants, had pleaded guilty to the charges and were convicted on June 14, 2022, while Kyari and the four police officers pleaded not guilty.

When the case came up on Monday, NDLEA counsel, Joseph Sunday, said the prosecution was ready to proceed with the hearing, subject to the convenience of the court.

However, Mba told the court that the defence’s second witness, John Nwonke, who was subpoenaed to continue his evidence, was unavailable due to illness. He said Nwonke had written to the court in a letter dated October 2, addressed to the Deputy Chief Registrar and copied to lead defence counsel, Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN.

Sunday opposed the adjournment, describing it as “in bad taste” and an attempt to frustrate the trial. He said he was seeing the witness’s letter for the first time in court and noted that at a previous sitting, another counsel had said Nwonke was outside the country on official duty. He urged the court to foreclose the witness’s evidence.

Justice Nwite declined the prosecution’s application to foreclose the evidence but warned that failure of the witness to appear on the next adjourned date would lead to foreclosure of his testimony.

The judge adjourned the case to October 7, 2026, for continuation and conclusion of Nwonke’s testimony and cross-examination.

Nwonke had earlier testified that the two convicted traffickers told investigators that NDLEA operatives at the Enugu airport allegedly assisted them in evading security checks before their arrest by IRT officers.