Ekiti ACN chairman, 4 others charged with murder

by Rachel Ogbu

Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar (Punch)
Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar (Punch)

The Chairman of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Ekiti State, Jide Awe was arraigned before a Chief Magistrate’s Court in Ado Ekiti for the murder of Ayo Jeje.

Awe was charged with four others on Monday including, John Faboro, Basiru Aniramu, Sefiu Owonifari and Busuyi Falae.

The accused received a four counts charge of murder, attempted murder, conspiracy and disruption of public peace.

According to reports, the defence counsel urged the court to quash the charges while citing Section 174 of the 1999 Constitution as amended, which he said vested the powers to prosecute in the attorney general.

On March 30, some thugs were said to have attacked Jeje’s hometown in Erijinyan, causing chaos in the community and then murdering him in the process.

He was killed a day before he was meant to leave the ACN party and publicly defect to the Peoples Democratic Party.

The Punch reports:

The accused persons were allowed to go by the court as the Chief Magistrate, Richard Adeboye, said they should be allowed to continue to enjoy the administrative bail already granted them by the police.

The prosecuting counsel, who is the Officer in Charge of Legal Department in Ekiti State Police Command, Mr. Femi Falade, and the defence counsel, Mr. Adetunji Oso, disagreed over who had the power of prosecution between the police and the attorney general in the matter.

However, the prosecuting counsel, in his reply, argued that the power to prosecute by the police was contained in Section 23 of the Police Act.

He added that it was not mandatory for the police to seek legal advice from the attorney general.

The chief magistrate blamed the director of public prosecution and the police for flexing muscles over who had powers to prosecute any accused person. He said he expected them to have ironed out the issue before coming to the court.

 

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