Two men, Terna Goja and Samson Zafefa were on Wednesday ordered to be remanded in prison by a Makurdi Magistrates’ Court over alleged planned disruption of the just concluded Presidential and National Assembly elections in the state.
The defendants were arrested in Aliade, Gwer-East Local Government Area of Benue State.
The pleas of the defendants were, however, not taken in court due to lack of jurisdiction.
The Prosecutor, Sgt. Regina Ishaya, told the court that investigations into the matter are ongoing and asked for another date for mention.
The Magistrate, Mrs. Regina Ochokwunu, adjourned the matter to May 22, for further mention.
Earlier, Ishaya had told the court that the case was transferred from the Divisional Police Headquarters, Aliade to the state CID, Makurdi via a letter dated February 25.
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According to him, DPO of Aliade town, SP Aminu Suleiman, had received information on February 23 that some thugs were planning to disrupt the election in Aliade.
“According to the letter the police informant said that the thugs were armed with dangerous weapons such as guns, cutlasses, knives and sticks.
“They were said to be loaded inside a Nissan car with registration number JJS 265 AX,” he said.
The prosecutor said that the letter further stated that the DPO and his men swung into action and intercepted the car with two occupants.
“The letter stated that upon a search conducted on the defendants, four 1.6 live ammunition was found inside the car which they could not give satisfactory account of.
“Police arrested the occupants of the car and they confessed that they were members of red cult society, while one Fater (surname unknown) is still at large,” Ishaya said.
He said that the offences contravened Section 6(b) 3(1) of the Robbery and Firearms Act, 2004 and Section 11(2) of the Abduction, Hostage-Taking, Kidnapping, Secret Cult and Similar Activities Prohibition Law of Benue State, 2017. (NAN)
