By Friday Idachaba, Lokoja
Three middle-aged men have been arraigned before a Lokoja Chief Magistrate Court for allegedly impersonating Kogi State Internal Revenue Service staff and mounting road blocks on the Lokoja-Abuja highway for illegal revenue collection.
The trio of Abba Emmanuel, Umar Abubakar and Kingsley Dan’sebe were arraigned before Lokoja Chief Magistrate Court 1 on Wednesday charged with Criminal Conspiracy, Causing Obstruction of Public Highway and Extortion.
The suspects were alleged to have been arrested by the Vigilante Group of Lokoja Local Government area on Illegal Tax Activity.
The prosecuting Police Officer, Gabriel Otowu Esq. who is also the Officer-In-Charge, Legal matters (OC-Legal) at Kogi Police Command while reading the First Information Report (FIR).
Otowu told the court that on 13th November, the vigilante group of Lokoja LGA brought the suspects to the police having caught them impersonating the Kogi State Internal Revenue Services.
He said the suspects erected a roadblock on Lokoja-Abuja road for their illegal revenue collections operation adding that the offences ran contrary to various sections of the law.
The three accused persons however pleaded not guilty to the charges as they denied the allegations leveled against them.
Counsel to the defendants, Mu’azu Abbas urged the court to grant his clients to bail citing Section 36 (5) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 As Amended.
Citing relevant sections of Kogi Criminal Justice Law, Abbas said the offences were triable by the Magistrate Court,
He said that the accused had been in Police custody since November 13, 2024 and urged the court to consider the bail application.
“The defendants will furnish the court with reasonable and reliable sureties to prove they will be available for trial. The court in the overall interest of justice should approve the defendant to bail.”
The Prosecuting Police Officer did not oppose the bail application but urged the court to thread with caution and to “Judicially and Judiciously” look into the case before considering the bail application.
The Chief Magistrate, Abdullahi Musa Mopa, after considering the counsel’s application for bail and the response of the prosecution, granted bail to the three defendants,
Chief Magistrate Mopa said, “Without much ado, that on the circumstances of this application, the interest of justice tilt towards the applicant.
“I hereby grant the defendants bail in the sum of N400,000 and a surety each in like sum. The surety must have a traceable address in Lokoja, and must not be less than a level 14 officer either at the Federal or State parastatal.
Mopa subsequently adjourned the case to December 11, 2024, for further mention. (Ends)