The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA ) Mobile Court has convicted 42 persons caught at different locations within the territory for flouting the stay-at-home order by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Chairman, FCTA Enforcement Team on Restrictions of Movement, Mr. Ikharo Attah, who disclosed this to newsmen on Friday in Abuja noted that the establishment of the mobile courts had strengthened the operations of the team and reenergised it to achieve the objectives of the lockdown order.
He said none of the convicts had been sent to any correctional centre, but they rather paid fines for the offences they pleaded guilty to.
Attah also disclosed that about 38 motorcycles were impounded in Dutse Alhaji for violating the order banning motorcycle operation.
According to him, the convicts often pleaded guilty to the offences, but prayed for leniency.
He noted that while judges remained firm in administration of justice, they used human face in punishing the violators.
He said: “Today, about 42 persons were convicted by the mobile court that sat at four different locations around the territory.
“The mobile court operations are both backed by the Department of Road Traffic Services and Abuja Environmental Protection Board laws.
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“The enforcement team has stopped being the prosecutor and the judge. What we do is: once we arrest violators of the lockdown, we hand them over to the court.
“We invaded a beer parlour in Dutse Alhaji that is overcrowded in spite of the lockdown order.
“The people were arrested and handed over to the court.
“The judges are considerate. Most suspects plead guilty and are given fines to pay.”
Attah, who stated that the fines were given at the discretion of the judges, said however: “Vehicles impounded will remain with the vehicle inspection officers until the end of the pandemic.”
He pleaded with residents to obey the sit-at-home order and save themselves from hardship that might follow disobedience.
