A Chief Magistrates’ Court in Ado Ekiti on Wednesday, April 1st, 2020 found twelve people guilty of violating the Ekiti State Coronavirus (Prevention of Infection) Regulations, 2020.

They included two Egyptian nationals and ten others who received a wide range of fines for violating the stay-at-home order prescribed by the state government, as part of the state lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus disease.

They were arraigned before the court on two counts bordering on

violating the Provision of Regulation 2(1)(b) punishable under Regulation 12 of the Provisions of Ekiti State Coronavirus (Prevention of Infection) Regulations, 2020 made pursuant to Section 8 of the Quarantine Act, Cap Q2, LFN, 2004

and

without lawful excuse driving or riding in violation of the order contrary to and punishable under Section 202 of the Criminal Code Law, Cap C16, Laws of Ekiti State, 2012.

The Chief Magistrate, Mr. Abdulhamid Lawal, who found the Egyptian men, Mahmud Ahmed and Mohammed Mustapha, guilty of the charges, and subsequently fined them N2,500.00 each on count 1 and count 2, totalling N10,000.00.

The chief magistrate said,

Both defendants are reasonably suspects and should be kept in mandatory isolation for 14 days, since one of them, gave evidence in court that he came into the state this morning, April 1, 2020, from Ilorin, Kwara State.

The others, who received various fines for their violations of the state government’s order included two siblings Matthew and Oladapo, for riding on commercial motorcycle during the lockdown. They were both fined N2,500.00 each on count 1 and N2,500.00 on count 2, totalling N10,000.00.

However, one Gbenga was discharged, due to his plea that he was caught while assisting someone to buy drug for a sick person.

Justin Nwosu

Justin Nwosu is the founder and publisher of Flavision. His core interest is in writing unbiased news about Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. He’s a strong adherent of investigative journalism, with a bent on exposing corruption, abuse of power and societal ills.