Pastor Uche Aigbe, a Minister of the House On The Rock Church has been arraigned before a Chief Magistrate Court in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, for preaching with a gun. 

Pastor Uche Aigbe, together with Promise Ukachukwu, and Olakunle Ogunleye were charged with criminal conspiracy, illegal possession of prohibited firearms, inciting disturbance, and criminal intimidation, but the trio pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The police accused the three of them who are all members of the House on the Rock Church, Wuye, Abuja, for conspiring to illegally and unlawfully possess an AK47 rifle on February 12, 2023.

READ ALSO: 22 Year Old Murders Father in Gombe State

The Prosecution counsel, ASP James Idachaba, said Pastor Uche Aigbe and two others got the firearm from Inspector Musa Audu, attached to Wuye Division, posted on guard duty at the said Church.

He further accused the defendants of using the firearm to illustrate while preaching a sermon about faith in the Church. 

 Idachaba also accused the defendants of making inciting and intimidating statements to the church congregation that could cause alarm and breach of peace, contravening Section III of the Firearms Act CAP F28, LFN 2004, and contravened Sections 97, 114, and 397 of the Penal Code.

 

Chief Magistrate Abubakar Ismail in his preliminary ruling over the case on Thursday, August 10, struck out the no-case submission made by the defendants on grounds of the trial lacking merit and substance.

 

The magistrate affirmed that the evidence presented in court showed that the defendants have been effectively linked with the charges preferred against him by the Police.