20th March, 2012
Police recruits numbering 43 were on Monday, arraigned before four Magistrates’ Courts in Ilorin for allegedly presenting fake documents for their recruitment into the Nigeria Police Force at the Police Training School, Ilorin .
Three of the courts granted some of the accused bail while one ordered 10 others to be remanded in prison.
The Chief Magistrate, Malam Nureni Kuranga, ordered the remand of the 10 accused persons brought before his court and adjourned the case to March 28 for further mention.
In their separate rulings, Chief Magistrate Lekan Adegbite and Senior Magistrate Wahab Saka, granted each of the accused persons bail in the sum of N50, 000 with a surety in like sum.
However, Saka added that the sureties must swear to an affidavit of means before the court’s registrar and adjourned the case to April 3 for further mention.
Magistrate Simbiat Mohammed in her own ruling, also granted 13 accused persons bail in the sum of N50, 000 but with two sureties in like sum.
She said that the sureties must sign an undertaking with the court and swear to an affidavit of means before the accused could be released.
She then adjourned the case to April 18 for further mention.
In their First Information Reports, the police prosecutor, told the courts that the accused persons had tendered fake documents at their point of entry and that a subsequent screening revealed that the documents were forged.
All the accused persons were arraigned on a four-count charge of criminal conspiracy, forgery, impersonation and possessing fake certificates.
The charges contravened sections 97, 363, 132 and 163 of the Penal Code.
According to the charge sheet, a team of detectives from the Monitoring Unit of the Nigeria Police Force Headquarters, Abuja, arrested the accused during screening.
They were alleged to have tendered various certificates ranging from Senior School Certificate (SSCE), Nigerian Certificate of Education (NCE) to University Degrees for the exercise.