Three men – Gbenga Oladapo, Godwin Daniel and Dennis Martins, on Thursday, appeared before an Ado-Ekiti Chief Magistrates’ Court charged with tampering with a transformer.
The men, Oladapo, 33, Daniel, 20 and Martins, 25, whose addresses were not provided, are facing a charge of tampering with a transformer.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the court did not take the pleas of the defendants.
The Prosecutor, Insp Akinwale Oriyomi, told the court that the defendants committed the offence on June 12 at 1:00 am, in the Ijero-Ekiti area of Ekiti.
Oriyomi said that the defendants were caught by passersby tampering with a transformer in the Ijero-Ekiti community. He said that the passersby raised alarm and members of the community apprehended the men and then handed them over to the police for questioning.
Oriyomi said that the offence contravened Section 9 of the Miscellaneous Offences Act, CAP, 2024. The prosecutor urged the court to remand the defendants pending legal advice from the Director of Public Prosecutions.
However, the Defence Counsel, Busuyi Ayorinde, urged the court to grant his clients bail on liberal terms, promising that they would not jump bail. The Chief Magistrate, Olarewaju Owoleso, granted the defendants bail in the sum of ₦500,000 each with two sureties in like sum.
Owoleso said one of the sureties must be a property owner or a civil servant not below grade level 14 in the employ of Ekiti State Government. He adjourned the case until July 29 for mention.