Man remanded for alleged land grabbing
An Igbosere chief magistrate’s court on Tuesday remanded a 41-year-old man on charges bordering on land-grabbing and unlawful damage to property.
The accused, John Kennedy, was arraigned by the Force Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Department (FCIID), Alagbon, Lagos.
The police alleged that Kennedy had sometime in 2013, illegally occupied a land belonging to one Alhaji Jubril Okelewu after forcefully chasing him away from there.
He was also alleged to have in the course of unlawfully occupying the said land, demolished its perimeter fence valued at about N12 million.
The accused, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The prosecutor, Barrister Morufu Animashaun, urged the court to remand the accused in prison custody throughout the duration of the trial as the lawyer feared he could threaten witnesses. But the lawyer to the accused, Mr Okey Nwafor Okonkwo, pleaded with the court to grant his client bail in the most liberal terms.
Okonkwo told the court that his client was prepared to face trial and would not threaten the witnesses.
Following the plea of the defence lawyer, the presiding magistrate, Abimbola Komolafe, granted Kennedy bail in the sum of N5 million, with two sureties in like sum.
Komolafe ordered that one of the sureties must be a blood relation to the accused, and that the two sureties must show to the court evidence of three years tax payment to the Lagos State government, means of livelihood, and that all the documents tendered must be verified by the prosecutor.
The magistrate while adjourning the matter till April 10, 2018 for trial, ordered that the accused be remanded in prison custody, pending when he will perfection the bail conditions.