Date: 2017-10-20

Eleven accused, suspected to be fleeing members of the dreaded Badoo cult group from Lagos State, were yesterday remanded in prison on the orders of an Ilorin Magistrate's Court. The police First Information Report (FIR) on the case named the suspects as Bashiru Habeeb, Abdulrasaq Abudlfatai, Ridwan Ganiyu, Rilwan Abdulazeez and Isah Idowu. Others are; Muyideen Mahmud, Ibrahim Abdulgainyu, Sakariyau Moshood, Abubakar Isiaq, Abdulwahab Ibrahim and Yunus Mubarak.

The accused were brought before the court by the police on charges of criminal conspiracy, causing hurt and being members of secret cult, contrary to sections 97, 248, of Penal Code Law and Section 2 punishable under section 114 of the Secret Cult and Secret Society (Prohibition Law) 2014.

When the matter came up before Magistrate Ibitayo Olawoyin for mention yesterday, police prosecutor, Inspector Jubril Al-Hassan, prayed the court to remand the suspects in prison. He argued that police investigation on the matter was still ongoing, even as other members of the group are still at large.

However, Toyin Onaolapo, counsel for the 1st and 8th accused persons, as well as Ibrahim Olojoku, counsel for the 2nd, 3rd, 6th and 11th accused persons, prayed the court to grant their clients bail as they argued that the FIR has not established any case against them.

The counsels argued that their clients should be assumed innocent of all the offences levelled against them until proven otherwise. Magistrate Olawoyin, in his ruling, said the offences were not ordinarily bailable, hence his order that the accused be remanded in Mandela Federal Prison, while the case was adjourned to November, 3, 2017.