8 men face trial for allegedly beating policewoman

The police, on Wednesday in Lagos, brought eight men before an Ikeja Magistrates' Court for allegedly beating a policewoman.

The accused include Abdulahi Yakubu, 30; Usman Chamaya, 27, and Abubakar Aba, 30, who are commercial tricycle operators; Azeez Adesanya, 51, a plumber, and Salihu Mohammed, 22.

Others are Mohammed Ali, 20, and Tanko Zimbo, 21, both traders, as well as Baba Lawal, 23, a security man.

The accused are facing charges of breach of peace, conspiracy and assault.

The Police Prosecutor, Insp. Clement Okuoimose, told the court that the accused committed the offences on Jan. 11, at Johnson Street, Ikeja, Lagos.

He said that the accused and others still at large conspired to assault one CSP Amabua Mohammed by beating her.

"The accused jointly beat up the policewoman by punching her all over her body and in the process, damaged her left eye," he said.

Okuoimose said that the police got information that a man used to ride one unregistered tricycle to convey passengers and robbed them.

"The police got a tip-off from some informants that one particular unregistered 'Keke NAPEP’ normally picked passengers along Oba Akran and robbed the passengers of their belongings.

"So the complainant trailed the tricycle to Ikeja under bridge and luckily for her, she sighted the tricycle and gave it a hot chase.

The prosecutor said that the complainant later alerted the police, who quickly rushed to the scene and arrested some of the accused while others escaped.

The offences, Okuoimose said, contravened Sections 166, 171 and 409 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.

According to him, section 171 prescribes a three-year jail term for an accused found guilty

The accused all pleaded innocence of the offences and the court granted them bail in the sum of N500,000 each with two sureties each in like sum.

The magistrate, Mr Aka Bashorun, adjourned the case till Feb. 29 for mention.