[GIST] Court Remands Kano Governor's Fierce Critic In Prison
A magistrate court in Kano has sent Muaz Magaji, one of the fiercest critics of Kano State governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, to prison custody.
Magaji was initially billed to return to the court on February 3 but was arrested on Friday by the police after a live television interview at Trust TV in Utako, Abuja, around 9:15pm.
Witnesses said that Magaji was chased by the law enforcement agency immediately after leaving the television station.
At the court hearing on Monday, hundreds of supporters stormed the court premises in a protest calling for his release.
It took the intervention of notable public figures to calm the frayed nerves of enraged supporters.
Magaji is standing trial for criminal defamation against his erstwhile boss, Ganduje.
The four-count charge against him border on defamation of character, intentional insult, injurious falsehood and inciting disturbance against Ganduje.
When the charges, which contravened Sections 392, 399 and 114 of the Administration of Criminal Justice of Kano State 1999, were read to him by the prosecution counsel, Magaji pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
The prosecution counsel, therefore, applied for an adjournment to present his case.
But the defence counsel, Gazzali Ahmad, applied for the bail of his client on health grounds, citing Sections 168, 172 and 174 of the Administration of Criminal Justice of Kano State 1999.
The prosecution, however, opposed the bail application on the grounds that the defence counsel did not tender sufficient evidence to prove his client’s alleged debilitating health condition.
Wada further said granting Magaji bail will encourage the youth to defame the character of people.
When the magistrate asked Magaji whether he knew the meaning of defamation of character, he answered in the negative.
But the magistrate countered the accused, saying in the First Information Report, he is being accused of posting Ganduje’s picture with a lady, which the prosecutors see as portraying the governor of having extra-marital affairs with other ladies.
The magistrate, therefore, ordered that he be remanded in prison custody and adjourned the case to February 3, 2022, for ruling on the bail application.
Magaji was first arraigned on Friday, January 28, but failed to take a plea due to the alleged loss of hearing he suffered.
Magaji’s lawyer, Gazzali Ahmad, had argued that his client temporarily lost hearing owing to aural injuries he sustained after airbag discharge.
On January 17, police in Kano invited Magaji to answer questions regarding a petition against him.
He, however, sent his lawyers to the command instead of appearing in person, and then filed a fundamental enforcement case against the police.
Magaji, a former Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, was fired by Ganduje over “insensitive comments” following the death of Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, Abba Kyari.
