Bus Conductor Bags 2-Year Jail Term

An Ilorin Magistrate’s Court, Kwara State, northcentral Nigeria, has sentenced a 26-year old bus conductor, Rasaq Sikiru, to two years imprisonment for belonging to a gang of thieves.

The court also ordered that the convict be given 20 strokes of cane at the court premises.

Sikiru was arraigned on a two-count charge of belonging to a gang of thieves and in possession of items suspected to have been stolen.

The convict was arrested on 26 April by a vigilante team having suspected that he belongs to a gang of thieves as he could not even give account of himself and the two handsets found in his possession.

Prior to his arrest,  a resident of  Asa Dam area, Ilorin, Oniye Shuaibu,  had alleged that on 25 April some suspected hoodlums invaded his residence and attempted to steal his Toyota Camry car.

Shuaibu said the gang, however, failed in the mission as a result of the timely intervention of the vigilante team and youths in the area.

Police First Information Report, FIR, on the matter stated that the convict confessed that he belongs to a gang of thieves.

In addition, he revealed the names of other gang members, now at large, to be Yinusa Omo-Eko, Baba Lukman and Arobale.

Having pleaded guilty to the offences, the prosecutor, Sergeant Isaac Yakubu, urged the court to summarily try him as Magistrate S.O.Sambo sentenced the convict to two years imprisonment without an option of fine.

—Steven Oni/Ilorin