Saminu Isah, 17, was said to have relocated to Abuja from Katsina State on the invitation of his friends. They had convinced him that there were better prospects in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). It was said that he left Katsina without the knowledge of his parents.
On arrival, he was first introduced to scavenging, which he did for some months. He was later engaged as a guard at Dutse in Bwari Area Council, a job that eventually led to his arrest.
It was learnt that the same friends who brought him to Abuja had asked him to assist them execute their plan to steal an armoured cable connected to the public transformer in the compound he was guarding.
The arrangement was that he would stand at a distance to observe and monitor any suspicious movement and alert them immediately while the operation was going on.
The operation was, however, unsuccessful as Isah was arrested by the police following an alarm raised by a resident who sighted them while attempting to remove the cable. His two friends escaped.
He was thereafter remanded in police custody and later charged to court over a joint act and attempt to commit an offence.
On the day he was to be arraigned before an Abuja Grade 1 Area Court, Kubwa, also in the Bwari Area Council, Isah waited for other suspects to be docked as his case would be handled in the inner chamber, being a juvenile. The judge had just finished taking other cases and was getting ready for his case when he suddenly took to his heels from the open court where he was waiting, an action that took everybody within and outside the court premises unawares. He scaled through the fence of the court to the next compound, and was about to escape when he was apprehended by some persons working there.
Subsequently, he narrowly escaped being lynched as the police rescued him and brought him back to the court.
He was eventually sentenced to four months imprisonment by the judge, Mohammed Marafa, after pleading guilty to the two-count charge, blaming the act on the devil. The court, however, gave him an option of N4,000 fine.
