A popular pastor, Archbishop Samson Benjamin, better known as Jehovah Sharp Sharp was on Wednesday arraigned before a Lagos State Magistrates’ Court in Igbosere over alleged violation of lockdown order in protest of maltreatment of Nigerians by the Chinese.
Pastor Sharp Sharp was arraigned by the state government alongside two others, Jerry Abel and Johnson Benjamin, on three counts bordering on lockdown violation and conduct likely to cause a breach of the peace before Magistrate Yewande Oshin.
They however pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The pastor was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly leading about 100 persons to the Chinese Consulate on the Victoria Island to protest the maltreatment of Nigerians in China.
The charges read in part, “That you, Jerry Abel, Samson Mustapha Benjamin, Johnson Benjamin and others now at large, on April 21, 2020, around 4.30pm, at the Chinese Consulate, 161A, Idejo Street, Victoria Island, Lagos, in the Lagos Magisterial District, did breach the cessation of movement and stay at home order made by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, contrary to Regulations 1(1)(2) of the COVID-19 Regulations, 2020, and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 122 of the Criminal Law, Cap. C17, Vol. 3, Laws of Lagos State, 2015.
“That you, Jerry Abel, Samson Mustapha Benjamin, Johnson Benjamin and others now at large, on April 21, 2020, at about 4.30pm, at the Chinese Consulate, 161A, Idejo Street, Victoria Island, Lagos, in the Lagos Magisterial District, did conduct yourselves in a manner likely to cause a breach of public peace, contrary to Section 168(1)(2) and punishable under Section 168(2) of the Criminal Law, Cap C17, Vol. 3, Laws of Lagos State, 2015.”
Oshin granted the trio bail and adjourned the matter till May 20, 2020.
