The trial of the General Overseer of Resurrection Praise Chapel aka Jehovah Sharp-Sharp and two others for lockdown related offences failed to get underway on Thursday at an Igbosere Magistrates’ Court in Lagos.
The Lagos State Government was scheduled to open its case against Archbishop Samson Mustapha Benjamin, his co-defendants Jerry Abel and Johnson Benjamin.
But the parties were informed that Chief Magistrate Olufolake Oshin had been elevated to a Judge of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and would no longer handle the case.
The prosecution and defence counsel applied for another date when the matter would have been reassigned to another Magistrate.
Upon agreement of parties, the court fixed July 1, 2020, for commencement trial.
The government arraigned the defendants on April 22 for allegedly violating the lockdown order in the state to protest alleged maltreatment of Nigerians in China.
The three-count charge accused the cleric and two others of “failure to stay at home contrary to COVID-19 Regulations’ and “conduct likely to cause breach of peace”
Prosecution counsel Dr Jide Martins told the court that the defendants’ actions contravened the COVID-19 Regulation and were punishable under Section 5 of the Quarantine Act and Section 122 of the Criminal Law of Lagos, 2015.
The defendants pleaded not guilty.
Mrs Oshin granted Benjamin N1million bail and remanded him pending fulfilment of the terms.
His co-defendants, Jerry Abel and Johnson Benjamin (1st and 3rd defendants respectively) were each granted N500,000 bail.
