Court convicts man for illegal possession of firearms   By Uthman Yawa-Siraja
Niger State Command of the Department of State Service (DSS) has secured the conviction of one Usman Abubakar by Minna Chief Magistrate Court Number One.
He was arraigned by the operatives of the secret security agency for being in illegal possession of an automatic pump-action gun and four cartridges.
The defendant was brought to the court amidst tight security by the operatives of the DSS and arraigned by the head of the legal unit of the command, Mallam Abdulmalik Sani, a legal practitioner.
According to the First Information Report (FIR) made available in court by the head of the legal unit and obtained by our reporter, it was disclosed that the defendant was arraigned on one count of being in possession of a magnum pump action rifle without lawful authority.
The charge sheet marked MN/02/2024 read in part: "That you Usman Abubakar, adult, male, Bororo of Beji Town, in Bosso Local Government Area of Niger State, that on December 12, 2023, at Paiko, within the jurisdiction of this court, committed a criminal act to wit: you had in your possession without lawful authority two (2) magnum pump action rifles with registration numbers 18-0223 and 18-0254, respectively, contrary to sections 9 (1) and (2) and punishable under section 27 (I) (b) (111) of the firearms Act, Cap F28".
The legal officer told the court that the defendant was arrested by a joint patrol team along Minna Paiko Road with the gun concealed in a bag, along with his brother, who was now on the run.
He further told the court that the defendant had confessed during interrogation that he bought the gun from Toto in Nasarawa State at the rate of six hundred thousand naira (N600,000) for self-defence as a result of the incessant armed banditry attacks on their community.
The Presiding Chief Magistrate Hajiya Imma Mohammed, after taking the plea of the defendant, who pleaded for leniency that he bought the gun to defend himself as a result of the activities of armed bandits and was begging the court to temper justice with mercy, then convicted him and reserved the sentence till January 17, 2024, for the final judgement.