Recently, the police in Ekiti State arraigned a 20-year-old cattle rearer named Mohamadu Bello before an Ado Ekiti Chief Magistrate’s Court for the alleged destruction of farm produce worth N3.8m that belonged to four individuals.
During the court session on Thursday, the police prosecutor, Inspector Elijah Adejare, stated that the defendant committed the offense on August 10 at Ido Ile Ekiti.
Adejare accused the defendant, a cattle rearer, of maliciously damaging farm produce valued at N300,000 belonging to Awiye Olusola. Additionally, the defendant allegedly destroyed farm produce valued at N2.8m owned by Oni Samson.
The charges further included damaging farm produce worth N300,000 belonging to Igbalajobi Adeyomi and farm produce worth N400,000 belonging to Akinola Sunday.
These actions contravened Sections 363 of the Criminal Law of Ekiti State, 2021, as per Adejare.
The prosecutor requested an adjournment to review the case file and bring forward witnesses.
Defending the accused, Mr. Adeyemi Egbebi urged the court to grant bail to the defendant, pledging that he would not evade bail.
Chief Magistrate Mr. Bankole Oluwasanmi then granted bail to the defendant in the sum of N80,000 with one surety in a similar amount, setting the date for the hearing on September 6.
In a separate case at another Chief Magistrate Court in Ado Ekiti under the leadership of Mr. Abayomi Adeosun, bail was granted to two men, Hammed Abdulrasheed (22) and Abiodun Aluko (42), who were arraigned for the alleged theft of a motorbike.
Sergeant Alice Ojo, the police prosecutor, informed the court that on August 6 in Ado Ekiti, the two defendants stole a Bajaj motorcycle valued at N1.2m linked to Ogundipe Babasanmi.
Regarding the accused Aluko, he was found in possession of a Bajaj motorcycle valued at N1.2m.
These actions were in violation of sections 302 and 343 of the Criminal Law of Ekiti State, 2021, according to Ojo.
The prosecutor requested a brief adjournment to prepare her case and present witnesses.
Similarly, counsel for the defendants Egbebi sought bail, promising that the defendants would not flee.
Subsequently, Chief Magistrate Mr. Abayomi Adeosun granted bail to the defendants at N250,000 with one surety each in a similar amount, adjourning the case for hearing on September 27.