The Minna Chief Magistrate Court Number One has revoked the bail earlier granted to Hadiza Mohammad and Usman Alhaji Umaru.
The Presiding Chief Magistrate, Hajiya Fati Umar Hassan, who revoked the bail of the two defendants, noted that there was a discrepancy in the police first information report (FIR) filed against them by the state anti-kidnapping squad of the Niger State Police Command.
The Magistrate then ordered the police to re-investigate the defendants and re-arraign them before the court for the commencement of a hearing into the matter after the completion of the investigation.
She ordered that a neutral body of the state police or an independent body of the state Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID) conduct a discreet investigation in the case before re-arraigning them.
"A neutral body or an independent-minded department of the State Investigation Department of the state police command will investigate the case.
"I'm not convinced with the content of the First Information Report (FIR); there are so many inconsistencies in the FIR. Please take them back for a discreet investigation," she told the police prosecutor.
However, this reporter's findings revealed that the two defendants were found with a Tecno handset that was forcefully taken from one Abubakar Mohammadu, who went to pay ransom to some kidnappers that invaded their camp in the Wushishi area and kidnapped his brother and his wife.
The kidnappers, it was learned, killed their victims after collecting the ransom of two million naira from the said Abubakar Mohammadu and killing him.
It was also gathered that the Tecno handset was tracked to the Sabon Gari area of Wushishi, and the handset was tracked to the two defendants, and they were linked to the kidnapping and killing of their victims after collecting the ransom from the said Abubakar Mohammadu before killing him too.
The anti-kidnapping squad of the police in Niger State, where it was gathered, refused to include culpable homicide and kidnapping in the police First Information Report brought to the court, which informed the revocation of the bail earlier granted them.
They were earlier arraigned on three counts of criminal conspiracy, belonging to a gang of thieves, and being in possession of a handset suspected to have been stolen, which was ordinarily bailable and informed the granting of bail by the chief magistrate.
The three-count charges, according to police Prosecutor Ahmed Saidu, DSP, were punishable under sections 97, 306, and 319 of the penal code law.
However, the police prosecutor told the court that he was not objecting to the revocation of it as long as it was in the interest of justice.