By BARTHOLOMEW MADUKWE
Magistrate Olalekan Aka-Bashorun of the Yaba Magistrate Court in Lagos yesterday told suspected killers of Cynthia Osokogu that old things are passed away and all things have become new, after they were re-arraigned in a consolidated charge marked as TA/52A/2012.

Late Cynthia-Osokogu and back view of the suspected killers when they were paraded .

The accused persons in the new charge are Okwuno Echezona Nwabufo, 33, Ezike Ilechukwu Olisaeloka, 23, Orji Osita, 32, Maduakor Chukwunonso, 25, Gideon Okechukwu, 39, Ezike Nonso Ifechukwu, 22 and Ezeaka Chinonso, 27.

Aka-Bashorun, after listening to the argument of the defence counsels and prosecutor, agreed with the prosecutor that all the defendants in the matter followed the same transaction, adding “the best thing to do in the case is to pack everybody (defendants) to the DPP. It is for the DPP to say,  you stay here and you stay there.”

During yesterday’s proceedings, the prosecutor, Superintendent of Police, Mr Chukwu Agwu, withdrew the initial three charges and substituted same with charge TA/52A/2012 and it was immediately distributed to the defence counsel by the court’s registrar. “We will be withdrawing the the three charges to substitute with the new charges,” Superintendent Agwu said.

Present in court were all the defendants with their lawyers, except for Gideon Okechukwu whose lawyer was not in court. But when the court asked him of his lawyer, he told the court that he has a lawyer.

Superintendent Agwu informed the court that the matter is now a new matter, following the consolidation of the three charges. He urged the court to overrule the bail initially granted to the defendants who were brought into the matter after the police allegedly found late Cynthia’s white Blackberry Bold-5 Mobile phone in their possession.

Meanwhile, counsel for the defendants, I.C. Ofo, Jude Ngobili, J.N. Aroh, E. Bello, O. Dada and I.A Osimiri, urged the court to order the prosecutor to give the stage of the matter in the court and to give reason why the defendants that were initially granted bail, though yet to perfect bail, would still be remanded.

In his response, the prosecutor (Superintendent Agwu) said “Section 35 (7) of the 1999 Constitution, is a grundnorm that sweeps  away anything in the legislation. We are in stage A because this is s fresh charge.”