After being detained for preaching while carrying a pistol, Uche Aigbe, the pastor of House On The Rock Church, was arraigned before a Chief Magistrate Court in the Federal Capital Territory, or FCT.
Uche Aigbe, Promise Ukachukwu, and Olakunle Ogunleye have entered a not guilty plea to charges of criminal conspiracy, unlawful possession of a firearm, causing a commotion, and criminal intimidation.
The defendants, who are all members of the House on the Rock Church in Wuye, Abuja, were accused by the police of plotting to unlawfully and illegally possess an AK-47 weapon on February 12, 2023.
Inspector Musa Audu, a member of the Wuye Division who was assigned to guard duty at the relevant Church, provided the defendants with the handgun, according to the prosecution’s attorney, Assistant Police Commissioner James Idachaba.
Idachaba alleged that the defendants used the firearm to illustrate while preaching a sermon about faith in the Church.
Additionally, he asserted that they violated Section III of the Firearms Act CAP F28, LFN 2004, Sections 97, 114, and 397 of the Penal Code by making threatening and inciting remarks to the church congregation that would have raised suspicion and disrupted the peace.
The defendants’ no-case submission was rejected by Chief Magistrate Abubakar Ismail on Thursday, August 10, on the grounds that the trial lacked substance and merit.
Ismail declared that the in-court evidence demonstrated that the defendants had been conclusively connected to the accusations made against him by the Police.