Following the arguments made by the defense attorney, Ijeoma Ndulue, the judge, Mallam Ibrahim Rufai, issued the ruling in accordance with the terms of Section 89 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, or ACJA.
Rufai forwarded the case to the Area Command in Kubwa for inquiry and classification as either a civil or criminal offense.
The complainant, Bridget Ikechukwu, filed a direct criminal complaint through her attorney, George Presley, but the defendants' plea was not accepted.
In an earlier notice of preliminary objection, the defense attorney contested the court's jurisdiction, citing Section 8(2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA).
The matter in this case involves the sale of stores, which is totally civil and not criminal, according to Ndulue. "The section states that a suspect cannot be arrested based on a civil matter of breach of contract," he added.
The complainant was served on September 18 and given 48 hours to react, according to the complainant's attorney, who claimed that the objection was not ready for hearing.
Presley urged the judge to reject the defense attorney's argument and said the accused should enter a plea.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the complainant, Ikechukwu, claimed that on July 27, she paid the defendants, respectively, N150,000 and N140,000 for parts of stores at Central Market Kubwa.
Ikechukwu further claimed that the defendants misled her when they sold her the stores since the Federal Capital Development Authority, FCDA, officers destroyed the buildings two days after she paid them.
She claims that the defendants refused to reimburse her for her money when she asked them for it.