
The charge of impersonation against a young man, Victor Aladegbolu, will come before an Osogbo Magistrate’s Court for hearing on September 12.
Aladegbolu, 22, was accused of parading himself as an operative of the Department of State Security (DSS) during the last Osun State governorship poll.
The court, last week, ordered that the accused person be remanded in Ilesa prison custody till the adjourned date.
The prosecutor, Mr. Biodun Badiora, told the court that the accused person conspired with others now at large to commit the offence on August 9, 2014 at about 12:00 p.m at City Hall, Ile-Ife.
Badiora said the accused person, with others, was caught wearing a T-shirt with an inscription of Police logo in the front and DSS at the back, claiming to be DSS officers.
He was apprehended by police officers.
He alleged that the accused person disrupted the conduct of the August 9 election in Ile-Ife and its environs.
He said the offence committed by the accused person was contrary to and punishable under Sections 517 and 109 of the Criminal Code Cap 34, Vol.11 Laws of Osun State, 2003.
Badiora, announcing his appearance, said the state’s Attorney General was taking over the matter from the police to ensure diligent prosecution.
Defence counsel Nnenna Ngwu did not object to the application by the state to take over prosecution.
She said the court had been saved the rigour of stretched trial with the suspect pleading guilty to the two-count charges against him.
The Magistrate, Mr. Olusola Aluko, who rejected the bail application for the suspect, urged defence counsel to apply for bail formally.
He also ordered that the accused person be remanded in prison custody and adjourned the matter
Aladegbolu, who was initially held in police custody before the poll, was released and later re-arrested.
Both the state government and the state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) had before and during the election raised the alarm over the presence of hoodlums impersonating men of the Nigerian Army, the Police, DSS and other security agencies.
The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, last Wednesday, said the election was nearly rigged and condemned the presence of hooded security agents.
Also arraigned by the police was a former Chairman of Ilesa West Local Government, Mr. Ibukun Fadipe, who allegedly attacked APC members.
Fadipe was last Thursday arraigned over a case of attack on some people in Ilesa in 2009.
The former chairman, who appeared before Chief Magistrate A.O. Ijiyode, was accused of assaulting Alhaja Mulikat Odeyemi and others as well as damaging the speakers and engine of Isokun Social Elite Club in Ilesa on May 28, 2009.
The accused pleaded not guilty to the charge.
The defence counsel, Oluwaseun Ajoba, urged the court to dismiss the case as all the complainants who were victims of the assault were in court, saying they had withdrawn the case.
The prosecuting counsel, Promise Akanwa, opposed the move as he said the proper procedure was for the counsel to apply for bail.
After much argument, counsel to the accused pleaded for bail, Fadipe could not jump bail as he was an immediate past council chairman.
Ajoba argued that all the complainants, who were direct victims of the alleged assault, could stand as surety for the accused.
The Chief Magistrate thereafter granted the accused bail in the sum of N500, 000 and two sureties, who must be residents in Ilesa.
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