A Magistrates’ Court sitting in Dutse, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, has remanded a 21-year-old security guard, Shuaibu Aliyu, for allegedly stealing a generator belonging to a mosque.
Aliyu, a resident of Sagwari Duste, who is facing a one-count charge of theft, was remanded by the court after pleading not guilty when the charge was read to him in the language he understands.
The young man was remanded after the Abuja Police Command arraigned him on Wednesday before a senior magistrate’s court in Dutse, the axis of the country’s seat of power.
Addressing the court, the prosecutor, Babajide Olanipekun, said that the complainant, Ukasha Adam, of Sagwari Duste, reported the matter at the Duste Police Station on June 10.
Olanipekun added that the complainant discovered that a Thermocool generator valued at N150,000, which had been kept inside the mosque, was missing.
The prosecutor noted that while searching for the generator, it was traced to the defendant’s home and was recovered.
He added that the defendant claimed he purchased the generator from an unidentified person for N35,000, but could not provide any proof of purchase.
Olanipekun argued before the court that the action was instituted after discovering that Aliyu’s conduct contravened Section 287 of the Penal Code.
Counsel to the defendant, Naomi Abang, urged the court to admit her client to bail, since the generator had been recovered.
Senior Magistrate, Yusuf Alkali, turned down the request and ordered that the defendant be remanded in police custody pending a ruling on his bail application.
The magistrate, after remanding the defendant, adjourned the case until June 29 for ruling on the bail request.