Court Detains Registrar, Banker Over Forged Affidavit
A Senior Magistrate Court 3, sitting in Suleja, Nigeria, has ordered the remand in federal correctional custody of a court registrar and a banker.
The presiding Senior Magistrate, Hajiya Halima Alhassan, who gave the order on November 1st, had turned down the bail application moved by the banker’s defence counsel, Barr. Nuhu Edah.
The two defendants were arraigned on two separate charges by the men of the ‘A’ Divisional Police Command in Suleja on the allegation of forging court affidavits for unsuspecting members of the public in Suleja.
Abdullahi Ismaila, a banker, and Aliyu Ismaila Evuti, a court registrar with the Niger State Judiciary, were separately standing trials on three counts of charges: using a genuine forged document, impersonation, and forgery.
The court registrar was separately arraigned on two counts of breach of trust and negligent conduct, which contravened sections 314 and 196 of the penal code law.
The banker was also separately arraigned on three counts of charges, which included using a genuine forged document, impersonation, and forgery, which are punishable under sections 179, 321, and 366 of the penal code.
According to the charge sheet marked Sul/Smc/Cr/41/2023, on October 23, 2023, the “above-mentioned case was referred from Chief Magistrate Court Suleja for Investigation.
“That on October 20, 2023, you Abdullahi Ismaila, also known as “Man of God,” used a genuine forged court affidavit you signed as the Commissioner of Oath and issued it to one Sunday Bitrus of Zuba FCT Abuja, who came to UBA Bank to effect a correction of his names.
“During the police investigation, you confessed to the commission of the crime and also said you have used this method to collect money from three different unknown persons.”.
When the charges were read to them by the presiding senior magistrate, Halima Alhassan, they both pleaded not guilty to the charges and the police prosecutor, ASP Saidu Ibrahim Katakpa, objected to the bail of the defendant on the ground that the offence for which the defendant was charged was not bailable and requested their remand at the correctional custody.
The second defendant in the case, the prosecutor, ASP Agwajinya Smart Solomon, informed the court that investigations into the case had been completed and urged the court to give them a date to commence a full trial.
However, both defendants were represented by lawyers, and they orally applied for bail with the assurance that they would produce a reasonable surety that would stand for them throughout the trial.
At this point, Senior Magistrate Halima Alhassan, while granting the request of the prosecutor, refused the bail of the banker as his charge was not bailable, while she adjourned until 7 to rule on the bail application moved by the counsel of the court registrar and ordered their remand until November 22, 2023.
