A Taraba State-based pastor who in 2019 allegedly worked in favour of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to help the electoral chances of former Vice President Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has been arrested.
It was learnt that the clergyman who is in charge of the Lutheran Church of Christ in Nigeria, Jalingo, Reverend Eli Dilli, was nabbed by the police for allegedly absconding without paying N518,000 hotel bills.
It was gathered that the pastor had lodged in Tufini Hotel and Suites in the state capital during the electioneering and coordinated a network of pastors to booster Atiku’s chances in the 2019 general elections.
Dilli, however, reportedly left the hotel after days, paying N100,000 and left without paying the N518,000 balance.
The police in the state arrested Eli following a complaint lodged against him by James Joshua, the manager of the hotel. He was arraigned on Tuesday before the Yola Chief Magistrates’ Court I on charges bordering on cheating.
The police prosecutor, Sergeant Nicholas Sawe, told the court that the offence was contrary to Section 312 of the Penal Code, Law of Adamawa State, 2018.
Eli, who pleaded not guilty, denied owning the hotel.
He said, “I have paid them over N300,000; I am not owing them.”
The prosecution pleaded with the magistrate, Aliyu Bawuro, to allow fix a date for the prosecution to produce witnesses. Bawuro adjourned the case till 16 August, 2021 and remanded Eli at the Yola Correctional Centre.
He said the denial by Eli had made the case criminal in nature.
