BY AGNES NWORIE, ABAKALIKI
A secondary school dropout, Onyekachi Egbo, has been dragged before a Magistrate’s Court sitting in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital, for allegedly assaulting his biological father and attempting to kill him over proceeds of sale of family land.
Egbo, 19, who was arrested by the police for allegedly inflicting machete cuts on his father, Ega Egbo, had been remanded at the awaiting trial section of the Nigeria Correctional Centre, Abakaliki.
Among other allegations, the defendant, in a suit marked MAB/848c/2022, was accused of holding his father hostage in their Akinyi Nkalagu compound in Ishielu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, on November 26, 2022.
Asked by the trial Magistrate, Happiness Chima, to narrate how the incident happened, the young man, claiming that he acted under the influence of alcohol, explained that he was shocked that the family sold a piece of land for N500,000 without the father giving him his own share of the money.
The charge against him read that “You, Onyekachi Egbo, on the 26th of November, 2022, at Akinyi Nkalagu Ishielu Local Government Area, did unlawfully attempt to kill one Ega Egbo by hitting him with a machete all over his body and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 320 of the Criminal Code, Cap 33, Volume 1, Laws of Ebonyi State of Nigeria, 2009.
“Onyekachi Egbo, on the same date and place in the aforementioned magisterial district, did organise yourself in a system of intimidations by unlawfully holding Ega Egbo hostage in his compound, slapping him with matchet, pulling down the doors in his house, threatened to kill him or any other one who tried to stop you, unless N500,000 (Five hundred thousand naira) was given to you and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 12(1)(d) of the Ebonyi State Internal Security Enforcement and Related Matters, Cap 55, Volume 1, Laws of Ebonyi State of Nigeria 2009.
“You did willfully and unlawfully destroy doors of the dwelling house valued at N800,000 (Eight hundred thousand naira), property of Ega Egbo and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 451(1)(a) of the Criminal Code, Cap 33, Volume 1 Laws of Ebonyi State of Nigeria, 2009.”
The defendant pleaded not guilty to the allegations without any legal representation when the case was heard on December 2, 2022.
Magistrate Happiness Chima granted bail to the defendant in the sum of N100, 000 only with one surety in like amount.
The Magistrate said that the surety must be a member of the defendant’s family, resident within the jurisdiction of the court.
However, none of the defendant’s family members was willing to stand surety for him, hence; he was whisked to prison custody pending the adjourned date.
