By HABIBU HARISU

Four men were on Friday arraigned before a Chief Magistrates’ Court in Sokoto over alleged criminal conspiracy, rape and defamation of character.

The accused, Aminu Hayatu-Tafida, Umar Abubakar, Mas’ud Abubakar-Gidado and Aliyu Shehu Kangiwa, are all residents of Sokoto metropolis.

The accused were also charged for alleged act of gross indecency, abetment, sale of obscene book and printing or engraving matter known to be defamatory.

The Police Prosecutor, ASP Samuel Sule, told the court that the case was reported by one Hajiya Safiya Umar of Bardon Barade area in Sokoto.

Sule said that the complainant reported one Aminu Hayatu-Tafida (a.k.a Baffa) of Gidan Hakki area of Sokoto, sometimes in 2017, lured her 16-year-old daughter to Phoenix Guest Inn, had unlawful carnal knowledge of her and recorded her nudity in an 18 seconds video clip.

According to him, the mother also alleged that the suspect conspired with another accused, Hafiz Ja’afar, who is still at large, and circulated the nude video on social media.

He added that the acts resulted to the termination of the girl’s wedding, scheduled to take place in October, this year.

The prosecutor noted that the actions of the accused persons contravened the state penal code laws.

The plea of the accused persons was not taken following objection raised by one of the defence counsel, Mr Yahaya Gwaza, on the grounds that the charges were not directly linked to his clients.

Gwaza argued that there was no sufficient material of particular linking the three other accused persons with any offence as contained in the First Information Report (FIR).

The Chief Magistrate, Shu’aibu Ahmad adjourned the case to Oct. 5, to enable the police prepare and file their charges properly.

He ordered that the accused be remanded in the custody of Police Criminal Investigation Department. (NAN)

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