Court remands Niger PDP chairman

AMinna High Court yesterday remanded the Chairman of the Niger State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Tanko Beji, in prison custody.

According to the presiding judge, Justice Mohammed Maiyaki, Beji who has been in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for about two weeks now, is to remain in custody until hearing on his bail application on Friday June 23.

The counsel to former Governor Muazu Babaginda Aliyu, Ayodele Oladeji, had urged the court to grant Beji bail on the point of law that he is a lawyer who has been practicing in the state, but the counsel to the EFCC, Gbolahon Latona, argued against the bail.

The chairman was formerly arraigned yesterday by the anti-graft body in amended charges which paired him alongside Muazu and former commissioner of environment, Umar Mohammed Nasko for criminal breach of trust.

In the amended charge, the former Governor who is the first accused in the case, is standing trial on seven-count charge based on criminal breach of trust and abuse of office while he was governor of the state between 2007 and 2015, while Beji who is now the second accused person is facing the court on two-count charge of criminal breach of trust and abetting the commission of crime.

Nasko on the other hand is standing trial on three-count charge of criminal breach of trust and abuse of office.

The three accused persons said they understood the charges read to them by Justice Mohammed Maiyaki, but pleaded not guilty.

Justice Maiyaki however did not temper with the earlier bail granted Muazu and Nasko, saying the amended charges did not affect their bail. He fixed September 11 to 15 for the hearing on the substantive suit.