A Wuse Zone 2 Chief Magistrates’ Court, Abuja, on Monday, ordered that an INEC official for Idemili North, Anambra State, Chukwujekwu Okeke, 54, be remanded in police custody till December 2.
The Chief Magistrate, Mr Usman Shuaibu, ordered that the accused be remanded till December 2, after he was arraigned on a charge of negligence of duty, to enable the police complete its investigation on the matter.
He also said that the accused’s application for bail would be considered on that day.
Earlier, the prosecutor, Dsp Stanley Nwodo, from the Force CID, said that on November 16, the accused unlawfully breached his official duties at Idemili, where he was deployed.
Nwodo informed the court that the accused deliberately withheld electoral materials designed for the elections, thereby, breaching electoral procedures.
He prayed the court to give the police 14 days to enable it complete investigation into the matter.
Nwodo said that the accused, who pleaded not guilty, was standing trial on a one-count charge of dereliction of duty contrary to Section 123 (1) (2) and (3) of the Electoral Act, 2010.
The counsel to the accused, Mr Daniel Nwogbodo, applied for bail for his client under Section 341 of the Criminal Procedures Code and Section 36(5) of the 1999 Constitution as amended.
The sections, which highlight bail as a right of a citizen, say that an accused is considered innocent until otherwise proven.
Nwogbodo told the court that his client was a senior civil servant and a responsible family man and would not jump bail if granted.
He also said that his client had a health condition (high Blood Preasure), which started deteriorating in Awka where he was held in police custody before being transferred to the force CID in Abuja.
Nwogbodo also told the court that his client would not jeopardise police investigation.
