An upper Sharia court sitting in
Gusau, capital of Zamfara state, on Wednesday remanded Bello Dankande, who
served as commissioner of local government and chieftaincy affairs under
Abdulaziz Yari, former governor of the state.
Dakande, who was accused of
kidnapping and cattle rustling, is the
second chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC) to be remanded within 48
hours.
Ibrahim Danmaliki, secretary of
the party’s publicity committee, was detained for alleged defamation and
incitement.
Dankande was arraigned before
Hadi Sani, a judge, for alleged kidnapping two persons and rustling of 50 cows
and 52 sheep.
Ibrahim Haruna, counsel to the
state government, alleged that Dankande instructed Saminu Gandau and Shitu
Mafara, two members of Yan Sakai, a
vigilante group, to abduct one Sani Na’awala and another individual simply
identified as Ja’o and seize their animals.
He said the animals were moved
from the settlement of the victims in Bakura local government area and had a
stopover at Talata-Mafara before they were brought to the Committee on the Recovery
of Rustled animals in Gusau where the animals were said to have disappeared.
He also told the court that the
two abducted persons were yet to be found.
Dankande, however, pleaded not
guilty to the charges while Bello Umar, his counsel, demanded a copy of the
case file which could not be traced during the hearing.
The defence counsel challenged
the jurisdiction of the court to hear the case, saying even if the offence was
committed, it was in far away Bakura but the prosecution said since the animals
disappeared in Gusau, the court had the jurisdiction to hear the case.
Hadi Sani, the presiding judge,
held that he needed time to find out whether the court had the jurisdiction to
hear the case.
He adjourned the case till
December 12 and ordered the accused person to be remanded in correctional
centre till the set date.
Yari and Bello Matawalle, the
incumbent governor, have been in the news in recent times over the insecurity
in the state.
Last week, Matawalle threatened
to order the arrest of his predecessor whom he blamed for fresh attacks across
the state.
Yari had denied the allegation,
saying he was being targetted for no just cause.
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com