The police in Nasarawa State have arraigned four men before the Upper Area Court in Wamba Local Government Area for destroying a N24.9 million ongoing rural electrification project of the federal government to provide electricity to Chigbu community.
The Prosecutor, Insp Murtala Agbo, told the court that the suspects: Babale Usman, John Vicko, Àyuba Awa and Joseph Musa, destroyed the project on the boundary between Chigbu and Mama communities of Wamba LGA because the land on which it was sited was under contention between the two communities.
Counsel to the accused persons, Barr Yohana Sambar, however, filed a preliminary objection that the court should strike out the case for abuse of court rules and contempt, arguing that there was already a case between the two communities before the same court over the land where the project was sited.
Barr Sambar affirmed that the court had already given an order to all parties to vacate the disputed land, expressing dismay that the contractor commenced the project on the land despite the court order.
He maintained that when a matter was already before a court, nobody could still bring a case similar to the same matter to the same court; hence his call that the case be struck out.
After listening to the arguments of the prosecutor and counsel to the accused, the Judge, Timothy Akolo, adjoined the case to December 8, 2021.
