A Zuba Magistrates’ Court in Abuja has on Thursday remanded an anti-Tinubu protester, Obiajulu Uja, in Kuje Prison custody for one month to ascertain his mental condition.
Information Nigeria had reported Uja was removed from an Abuja-Lagos bound Ibom flight for making a sensitive statement and openly declaring his grievance against president-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
He was said to have created a scene onboard the flight as he continued to shout ‘Obidients’ and kicked against the proposed swearing in of Tinubu as the next president of Nigeria, a situation which created commotion in the aircraft.
The management of the airline, however, invited the security officials of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) at the Abuja airport who forcefully dragged the passenger off the plane and subsequently handed him over to the Abuja airport police command.
Senior magistrate, Mohammed Ismail, while ruling in the application for bail, held that the report signed by Segun Soyombo of the National Hospital, Abuja, declared that the defendant could not stand trial in his current state of mind.
To its end, the court ordered a medical test on Uja to determine his mental state.
The magistrate, therefore, invoked the provisions of section 278(3)(4) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015, to order Uja’s remand for a period not more than one month.
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According to him, the defendant must be remanded in a suitable place with the requisite medical facility to manage him for one month, adding that the medical personnel handling Uja’s treatment should do so at the federal government’s expense
Ismail further held that the personnel should report his observation of the defendant to the court, adding that he had personally visited the Kuje Prison and inspected its medical amenity with satisfaction that there are requisite facilities needed for Uja’s treatment.
Meanwhile Uja on his part told the court that remanding him for a month in Kuje meant that the court wanted to kill him.
“I have a sickness that no medical doctor can cure, and as such, I want to go to my village to consult a herbal doctor,” said Uja.
The magistrate however adjourned the case until May 23 for a report.
Recall the court, on April 11, declined to grant the defendant bail because the exhibits attached to the bail application filed by his counsel did not say he was unfit to face trial but indicated he was of unsound mind.
Ismail held that though the 1999 Constitution (as amended) guarantees every person’s liberty, a court can deprive a person of their liberty based on certain conditions.
He subsequently ordered Uja to be taken to a government hospital to evaluate his mental capacity.
Uja was charged with breach of public peace by the police on April 3 in a charge marked CR/08/23 and had pleaded not guilty to the charge against him.
