Police arraign two suspects for ‘demolishing church building’ in Abuja

Two men, Aminu Nura and John Matthew, were on Wednesday arraigned for allegedly demolishing a church building in the Kubwa area of Abuja.

Nura and Matthew were arraigned at Wuse Zone 2 magistrate court.

The suspects, who were staff of Dantata Town Development Company Limited, were said to have committed the offence in December 2022.

They were arraigned on a three-count charge of criminal conspiracy, mischief and criminal trespass.

But they pleaded not guilty to the charges.

During court proceedings, E.A Inegbenoise, the police prosecutor, said the case was reported at the Kubwa police division by two complainants, Cyprian Effa and Shola Ademola, on January 22.

The prosecutor said the defendants unlawfully entered the complainants’ compound with a bulldozer and demolished the church building without a lawful justification.

He said the complainants lost all their church musical instruments and other valuable items to the demolition.

Ofem Obeter, the defence counsel, said the police ought to have arraigned Dantata Company and not his clients who were just employees of the company.

Obeter made an oral application for the bail of the defendants.

Theresa Nten Otu, the magistrate, asked the defence counsel to come formally with an application for bail.

The magistrate ordered the defendants to be remanded in prison and adjourned the case until September 12 for a hearing.