Alleged defamation: Court admits Sokoto ex-gov’s aide to N1m bail

A Sokoto Chief Magistrate Court on Wednesday granted bail to Shafi’u Umar, who is standing trial for allegedly circulating falsehoods against Sokoto State Governor, Ahmad Aliyu, and his wife on social media platforms.

Umar, 37, who was the Special Assistant to former Governor Aminu Tambuwal, was charged with circulating injurious falsehood and engraving matter known to be defamatory.

The case was first mentioned on August 26, and the Police Prosecutor, Insp Abdurahman Mansur, said the offence contravened the penal code law.

According to the First Information Report, the defendant committed the offence on July 18.

The prosecution said the defendant circulated a video of the governor’s wife, Hajia Fatima Aliyu, “spraying” money during her birthday ceremony despite the present hardships faced by citizens.

Umar was also allegedly accused of sharing a document that indicated that Aliyu failed his Senior Secondary School Examination, scored F9, and is incapable of speaking English.

The defendant had pleaded not guilty to the charge and was remanded in Correctional Center custody.

Ruling of bail application filed by the lead Defence Counsel, Mr Al’Mustafa Abubakar, the trial judge, Magistrate Fatima Hassan, granted Umar bail in the sum of N1 million with a surety in like sum.

Hassan ordered that the surety should be a resident of Sokoto and deposit his National Identity Card along with two copies of passport photographs in the court.

She adjourned the case to Oct. 10, 2024, for the prosecution to complete their investigation as assured by police prosecutor Mansur.

She ordered that the defendant should be remanded in a corrections facility for failure of bail conditions.

Before the adjournment, the defence counsel urged the judge to take cognizance of three adjournments in the trial on the instance of the police investigation and directed them to complete their findings as the law required.