Seven Docked Over NITEL Cable Theft

The Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corp (NSCDC) on Wednesday arraigned 7 men before an Abuja Senior Magistrates’ Court for allegedly conspiring to remove NITEL cables from a manhole.

They are Mattew Oladeji, 40, of Kaduna Road, Suleija; Mancha Daro, 25, of Apo; Micheal Idiaghe, 25, of Kaduna Road; Suleja, Raphael Okon, 32, ofMpape and Paul Timothy, 25, of Garki.

Others are, Sunday Usman, 46, of Mpape and Sunday Brurne, 37, of Garki, all members of staff of RIO-Tech, Nigeria Limited.

Police prosecutor Francis Omiunu told the court that on August  20, a NITEL staff alerted the NSCDC Headquarters in Wuse Zone 5, Abuja, of the presence of some unknown men within the area.

He said the NITEL staff had reported that the men were removing cables from a manhole by the PDP Secretariat, Wuse Zone 5, Abuja.

Omiunu said that at about 5.15 pm on the same day, Mr Igbirike Festus, the Officer in charge of vandalism at the NSCDC Headquarters and another Officer, proceeded to the scene of the incident.

“When they got to the manhole, they saw the accused removing underground cables and were in the process of loading them into a truck.

“They were arrested while trying to load the cables into the truck with Reg. No. XQ 604 APP and were subsequently brought to the NSCDC Headquarters,” he added.

Omiunu said the offence contravened the provisions of Section 334 of the Penal Code, but the accused pleaded not guilty to the charge.

He prayed the court to remand the accused in prison custody “in view of the nature of their offence”.

Counsel to the accused, Fred Ajede urged the court to grant his clients bail to enable them prepare for their trial as it was their constitutional right.