Court remands 4 men for alleged unlawful possession of firearms

An Ikeja Magistrates’ Court in Lagos on Wednesday ordered that four men be remanded in a correctional centre for alleged unlawful possession of firearms.

The police charged  Bashiru Shittu, 39; Hassan Omobolaji, 38; Korode Oguntoyinbo, 22 and Abiodun Benson, 23 with conspiracy, belonging to an unlawful society and illegal possession of firearms.

Magistrate A.S Odusanya, who did not take the plea of the suspects, ordered that they should be remanded in Kirikri Correctional Centre.

Odusanya directed the police to send the case file to the state Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for advice.

She adjourned the case until Jan. 27, 2022 for DPP advice.

Earlier, the Prosecution Counsel Insp. Emmanuel Ajayi, told the court that the suspects and others at large, committed the offence on Oct. 14 at Ibeshe, Ikorodu, Lagos State.

He also said that the four men who belonged to an unlawful society known as ‘Eiye’ confraternity.

The police, he said, received a distress call from members of the community that some cultists were attacking themselves.

“The police stormed the area, arrested the suspects while others escaped.

“When they were searched, two guns and one expended cartridge were recovered from them,” the prosecutor said.

The offence, he said, violates the provisions of sections 42, 330 and 411 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.

Section 42 prescribes three years’ jail term for belonging to an unlawful society while section 330 attracts seven years of unlawful possession of firearms.