Niger: Court remands three persons for snatching BVAS

A Chief Magistrate’s Court sitting at the High Court Complex, Minna, has remanded three persons in a correctional facility for being in possession of ballot papers, result form and snatching of Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAs) machines.

The accused were arrested by the Police in Agaie Divisional Command for being in possession of the electoral materials used in the conduct of the March 18, governorship and State House Assembly elections in Agaie town.

The suspects: Usman Aliyu, Mohammed Mohammed and Salihu Mohammed were arraigned on a four-count charge bordering on criminal conspiracy, being in possession of ballot papers, snatching of BVAs N0:26.01.10.001 and other election materials, as well as failure to give information to the police.

According to the police prosecutor, Inspector Emmanuel Bassa , the offences are punishable under section 97, of the penal code and section 115 (2),126 (I) of the Electoral Act 2023.

When the charges were read to the suspects,  they all pleaded not guilty and the police prosecutor, Inspector Emmanuel Bassa, requested for adjournment to enable police complete the investigation and arrest those on the run.
Subsequently, Magistrate Ahmed Aliyu Musa, remanded the suspects in a correctional facility and adjourned to April 4, for further mention.

Meanwhile, the Police First Information Report (FIR), marked MN/CR/20/2023 filed in the court, read: “On March 18, 2023, during the collation of results for the governorship and House of Assembly elections at Bugana polling unit, Magaji Ward of Agaie, some thugs invaded the polling unit, behaved in  a disorderly manner, threatened the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) officials and snatched  the BVAs machine No: 26.01.10.001 and other election materials.

“Police swung into action, moved to the scene and recovered the INEC materials as well as arrested Usman Aliyu, Mohammed Mohammed and Salihu Mohammed, all of the Ekowuna area of Bugana village , via Agaie.

“During the police investigation, BVAs machine and other election materials were found in possession of Usman Aliyu and when questioned, he claimed to have got the INEC materials from one Ndagi and one Yahaya Soja, both now (at large),

“Further police investigation revealed that Mohammed Mohammed and Salihu Mohammed, both aware of  the INEC materials, neglected and deliberately refused to give information to the police and thereby committed the above offences.”