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From Abel Leonard, Lafia
The 38 women and others who were protesting, last Friday, in Lafia, Nasarawa State, after the Supreme Court judgement affirming Governor Abdullahi Sule’s as the duly elected governor of the state, were denied bail, despite the plea by their counsel.
The women, who were on peaceful protest against the election of Governor Abdullahi Sule since March last year, were arrested, charged to court and remanded by the Nigeria police for alleged breach of public peace.
When the matter came up yesterday for hearing at the Chief Magistrates’ Court in Lafia, the Nasarawa State capital, it was adjourned to Thursday for hearing of the bail application of the 38 people. The court presided by Mohammed Abdullahi Lanze took the decision after listening to arguments by counsels to the complainant and the defendants on the bail application.
The bail application was filed last Friday by counsel to the defendants, Ayiwulu Baba Ayiwulu, but was not granted by the Chief Magistrates’ Court. At the resumption of hearing on the bail application, counsel to the defendants, Ayiwulu, relied on points of law to support his plea for the court to temper justice with mercy by granting the defendants bail.
Counsel to the Commissioner of Police, Danjuma Allu, on his part, argued that the complainant had seven days to reply to the bail application and urged the court to grant him a short date to reply, in accordance with the provisions of the law.
After listening to the counsels, the Chief Magistrate, Mohammad Abdullahi Lanze, adjourned the case to Thursday for the hearing of the application for the bail of the 38 people. He also ordered the commissioner of police to produce the defendants in court on the said date for hearing of the bail application.
Speaking to journalists, a coordinator of a civil society group, Community Initiative for Character Modelling and Entrepreneurship Development, Kefas Tiga, described the matter as disheartening, whereby some breastfeeding women with their children and other sick women are being held despite an application by legal counsel for the court to grant them bail.
He called on other civil societies to wake up to the challenges being faced by the women by questioning some happenings in the country that negate the fundamental human rights of some individuals in the society.
“These people who were arrested, not all of them, are part of the protests that started from March 19, 2023, and the protests have been peaceful”, Tega stated.
On Friday, January 19, 38 women, among others, were arrested and arraigned before the Chief Magistrates’ Court 3, and later remanded at the Lafia Custodial Centre of the Nigeria Correctional Service, for allegedly causing public disturbance, criminal conspiracy, mischief by fire and unlawful assembly.
