Suspected electoral materials’ thieves appear in court
The four persons
apprehended by the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos Police Command
over the theft of 20 Direct Data Capturing (DDC) machines belonging to
the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) appeared at the
Ikeja magistrate court yesterday .
On Tuesday, the
trial of the suspects came to a halt as they were transferred from the
Magistrate court 13 at the International Airport to the Ikeja due to
the inclusion of a minor among the culprits.
Femisola Azeez, the
Senior Magistrate scheduled to hear the case at the airport disclosed
that minor will be tried at a juvenile court, adding that the suspects
are to be transferred to the appropriate quarters.
The suspects which
include Suleiman Isa, 17, Lawal Lateef, Bamidele Joshua, and one
female, Sumonu Modupe, were arrested in the early hours of Friday
December 10, 2010 by detectives from the MMIA force after discovering
that the machines were moved out of the airport through the Shasha end
of the airport.
Meanwhile, Rasaq
Oyelade and Nwoche John, counsels to the suspects argued that they were
surprised at the refusal of the judge to hear the case, as they
stressed that the presence of a minor in the case should have waranted
a separation of the suspects rather than referring them to a juvenile
court.
It was gathered that the case of the adult suspects will be held at
the Ikeja Magistrate Court 9, while that of the minor, however, is yet
disclosed.
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