A Chief Magistrate Court in Sokoto on Monday ordered the remand of Aminu Hayatu-Tafida accused of raping a 16-year-old girl and circulating her nude video on the Internet.
Hayatu-Tafida, a son of popular politician and a political appointee in Sokoto State government, was arraigned before the court for allegedly conspiring with three others to circulate the rape video.
The accused persons were arraigned following substituted charges filed separately against them.
Hayatu-Tafida was first arraigned on a count of rape and later joined him with the three others on a separate charge sheet.
The accused had pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The Chief Magistrate, Shuaibu Ahmad, ordered that Hayatu-Tafida be remanded in Sokoto Correctional Centre to enable police complete investigation and obtain advice from the state Director of Public Prosecutions.
In the second case, Hayatu-Tafida appeared along with three others for allegedly sharing the nude video on social media platforms.
The three accused persons were Umar Abubakar, Mas’ud Abubakar-Gidado and Aliyu Shehu Kangiwa, and were all residents of Sokoto metropolis.
The charges against them included act of gross indecency, abetment, sale of obscene book and printing or engraving matter known to be defamatory.
The prosecuting officer, ASP Samuel Sule, said all the offences contravened the penal code law and laws of Sokoto State.
Sule told the court that the case was reported by mother of the girl, Hajiya Safiya Umar of Bardon Barade area of Sokoto.
He said that the complainant reported Hayatu-Tafida had sometimes in 2017, lured the 16-year-old girl to a hotel, had unlawful carnal knowledge of her and recorded her nudity in an 18-second video clip.
He added that the acts resulted to the termination of the girl’s wedding, scheduled to take place in October, this year.
The accused persons also pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The Chief Magistrate said the offences in the second charge were bailable and granted the three accused persons bail in the sum of N500,000 each.
Ahmad adjourned the case to October 19, for hearing.
