A Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday declared that the suspected mastermind of the October 1, 2010 Independence Day bombing, Charles Tombra Okah, was fit to stand trial.

Daily Independent reports that a ruling delivered on an application by John Ainetor, counsel to Okah, the court presided over by Justice Gabriel Kolawole, held that the request by the accused person for a private medical evaluation to ascertain his true state of health is “an abuse of court process”as Ainetor did not oppose the court’s earlier order for a medical examination of Okah at the National Hospital, Abuja.

Justice Kolawole said: “The request for a private medical evaluation of the accused person is an abuse of court process. Its aim is to ensure that the trial does not proceed. There is no merit in the applicant’s motion on notice, and it is hereby dismissed.”

He subsequently, fixed trial of the accused persons for July 8 and 9, and October 7, 8 and 15, 2014.

He ordered that the accused persons be remanded in Kuje Prisons, Abuja and be reproduced in court at the adjourned dates.

The counsel to Federal Government, Dr. Alex Iziyon (SAN), had urged Justice Kolawole to dismiss an application by the accused seeking a fresh psychiatric examination by a family doctor.