A Zuba Magistrate Court on Thursday ruled that Pastor Uche Aigbe of House on the Rock Church in Abuja has a criminal case to answer over the prohibited firearm found in his possession.
Chief Magistrate Abubakar Ismail gave the ruling while dismissing Aigbe’s no-case submission.
Magistrate Ismail held that from the totality of the evidence so far adduced, the defendant has been effectively linked with the charges preferred against him by the police.
The police had charged Aigbe, Promise Ukachukwu, and Olakunle Ogunleye with criminal conspiracy, illegal possession of prohibited firearms, inciting disturbance, and criminal intimidation. The defendants pleaded not guilty.
The prosecutor Assistant Police Commissioner James Idachaba said the defendants got the firearm from Inspector Musa Audu, attached to Wuye Division, posted on guard duty at the said church.
The offence, he said, is punishable under Section III of the Firearms Act CAP F28, LFN 2004, and contravened Sections 97, 114, and 397 of the Penal Code.
The pastor on February 12 went to the pulpit with an unloaded AK-47 rifle for emphasis on his sermon titled “Guarding your faith.”
