CITY NEWS Police arraign 5 IBEDC staff over theft of electricity cables

The Osun State police command has arraigned five staffers of the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) before a magistrate court in Osogbo, capital of Osun State, for allegedly stealing electricity cables.

The accused persons are Akinpelu Adesina, 64; Akeem Odeola, 45; Sanusi Usman, 19; Sabiu Suleiman, 19; and Abubakar Ahmadu, 28.

The police prosecutor, Inspector Joshua Oladoye, told the court that the accused persons committed the offence on November 19, 2017 at about 1:30p.m. at the IBEDC office, Dada Estate, Osogbo.

Oladoye said the IBEDC staffers conspired among themselves to steal the electric cables belonging to the company.

The accused persons pleaded not guilty and their counsels, Mr Remigius Ugwu and Mrs Bose Dada, urged the court to grant their clients bail in the most liberal terms.

The magistrate, Mr Tunde Badmus, granted the bail in the sum of N100,000 and adjourned the case till March 13, 2018. An Ejigbo, Lagos, chief magistrate’s court has remanded a 28-year-old man, Ekpenyong Lucky, for not unable to meet his bail conditions.

Lucky was remanded pending when he will perfect his bail condition.

The police arraigned the accused in court allegedly for breaking into a shop along Akowonjo Road in Shasha, Lagos, and stealing the sum of N4,000 which the owner of the shop, Esther Noah, had kept in a safe.

Lucky was said to have been arrested by some members of a vigilante group while he was escaping. He was later handed over to the police at Shasha division.

He was charged before the court on Tuesday on a two- count charge of breaking and entry, and stealing.

He pleaded guilty and asked for leniency. The police then pleaded with the court for an accelerated trial since the accused had pleaded guilty.

The presiding magistrate, Mr K.J. Layeni, upheld the prosecutor’s motion and adjourned for facts and sentencing.

Meanwhile the court ordered that Lucky be remanded in prison custody pending when the facts will be presented to the court and he will be sentenced accordingly.