Posted by By BIYI ADEGOROYE on
For their inability to fulfill bail terms, which included the provision of a traditional ruler as surety, 39 accused persons arraigned over Monday rioting in Ijora and other parts of Lagos have been remanded in the Kirikiri Maximum Prison.
For their inability to fulfill bail terms, which included the provision of a traditional ruler as surety, 39 accused persons arraigned over Monday rioting in Ijora and other parts of Lagos have been remanded in the Kirikiri Maximum Prison.
The accused persons were arraigned on a two-count charge of conspiracy and rioting punishable under sections 516 and 76 of the Criminal Code, Cap 77, Law of the federal Republic of Nigeria.
They all pleaded not guilty before Magistrate court seven, presided over by Mr. Ade Komaya and each of them was granted bail upon the production of two sureties, one of whom must be a traditional ruler and the other a civil servant. while the case was adjourned till May 11.
But when they could not meet the bail condition considered to be stringent, and something akin to the one attached to the bail of former Police boss, Tafa Balogun, the Magistrate ordered the accused persons be remanded in prison custody.
According to the police, anti-robbery policemen at Gaskiya road at about 2 am arrested 18 of the accused persons Monday night while the rest were picked at Ijora and Marine Beach areas of Apapa while rioting over an alleged assault on a wife of one of the urchins in the area.
The Area Commander, "B", Mr. Femi Oyeleye said the fight almost degenerated into a tribal clash, and even some okada riders, cattle dealers and some area boys were at the verge of hijacking the situation to disrupt even activities of tanker drivers in the areas.
Over 20 persons were injured in the operation which lasted for about fours hours Thursday, as the rioters threw missiles, cudgels and the like destroying property in the hit of the event.
Meanwhile, normalcy has been restored into the area, as a meeting has been held at the behest of the area commander, with most of the stakeholders which included traditional rulers, tanker drivers, Okada riders Cattle dealers and the rest with a warning that all aggrieved people should show respect for the law by reporting such cases to the police instead of taking the law into their hands.