Justice Friday Ogazi of the Federal High Court in Lagos has remanded two men, Abdulmalik Ojora and Sunday Ejide, at the Ikoyi Center of the Nigerian Correctional Services (NCoS) for allegedly removing a container from a Customs’ bonded warehouse.
Justice Ogazi ordered that Ojora and Ejide be behind bars till July 17, when their bail applications will be heard and determined by the court.
The defendants were arraigned before the court on a six-count charge of conspiracy, felony, forgery, uttering Customs’ documents and illegally removing a 1X40ft Container Number MRSU 477004/8.
The prosecutor, Mrs Kehinde Bode-Ayeni, had earlier told the judge that the defendants allegedly committed the offences on July 2, 2024, while armed with altered and forged Customs documents, entered the Sifax Bonded warehouse, located at Ijora, Lagos, and illegally removed the container.
Bode-Ayeni also claimed that the offences violated Section 516 of the Criminal Code Act Cap C38 laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004 and Section 516 of the Criminal Code Act Cap C38 laws of Federation of Nigeria 2004.
She also informed the court that the alleged crimes are contrary to sections 231(a), 231(b), 235(c), and 235(d) of the Nigerian Customs Service Act 2023 and are punishable under the same Section of the Act.
The defendants, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges.
However, the defence lawyers, Mrs M. O. Kala and Chukwu Onuora, after failing to convince the court to admit their clients to bail due to their failure to file proper applications, asked the court for a short date to rectify their errors.
Based on the development, Justice Ogazi adjourned the matter to July 17 for a hearing of the defendants’ bail applications.
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