CITY NEWS 2 in court over attempted rape Candido inaugurates economic advisory c’ttee

Two persons have been arraigned before the Abuja Grade 1 Area Court, sitting in Karmo, for allegedly attempting to rape a girl resident behind the Air Force Quarters, Abuja.

The persons were identified as Adekola Oluwakare and Ezekiel Katung. The third suspect, Friday, remained at large. The suspects were arraigned under sections 79 and 95 of the Penal Code for joint act and attempted rape.

The prosecutor, A.Z. Dalhatu, told the court that the alleged crime was committed on Thursday , July 14 when Friday forcefully entered into the complainant’s room shortly after she came out of the bathroom and was yet to dress herself.

The prosecutor said that the complainant alleged that one of the accused persons (Friday) grabbed her waist, while his friends stood outside monitoring what would happen to her, in spite of her call for help.

The prosecutor added that the complainant managed to escape after she used a cutlass and injured the suspect on his head and hand.

The prosecutor said that Friday came from Kado to visit his friends, Adekola and Ezekiel in their house, where they allegedly committed the crime.

When the charges were read to the accused persons they pleaded not guilty and were released on bail by the presiding judge, Abubakar Sadiq, in the sum of N10, 000 each with a surety within the court’s jurisdiction and the case was adjourned to August 10. The Chairman of Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Abdullahi Adamu Candido, has inaugurated a 15-man economic advisory committee to boost the council’s revenue and harness its resources.

Inaugurating the committee, Candido said the move was aimed at enhancing the council’s development.

He urged the committee members to to ensure that AMAC generates resources outside the statutory federation allocation.

He said that delivering good governance to the people of AMAC could not be achieved without adequate resources.

He said: “We cannot just sit down and keep asking, where are the resources? Because resources are in abundance.”

While describing the committee as the most critical he had established since assuming office, he urged that the members must ensure that civil servants were paid regularly and that the electorate were not shortchanged.

“You have a huge task before you. That’s why I see this body as the most important of all committees under my leadership,” he said. “You are at liberty to bow out at any time, if you cannot do it,”he added.

The committee, chaired by the AMAC vice chairman, Lawrence Onuchukwu, was also expected to monitor the joint AMAC and Private-Public Partnership (PPP) projects and explore further areas of revenue generation.