Court remands Kano journalist for ‘insulting’ Abba Yusuf in Facebook post

A magistrate court in Kano has remanded Muktar Dahiru, a journalist, for allegedly making a Facebook post considered “insulting” to Abba Yusuf, governor of the state.

Dahiru, who works with Pyramid FM Kano, a radio station managed by the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), was arrested on Thursday over the post.

According to Premium Times, the journalist was secretly charged before magistrate court 24 at Gyadi Gyadi, court road, with criminal conspiracy, defamation of character, and intentional insult.

Ummah Kurawa, the presiding magistrate, remanded Dahiru in a correctional centre, pending the hearing of the bail application on September 3.

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The journalist was said to have shared a broadcast audio interview with an opposition politician accusing the governor of corruption.

The opposition politician asked the governor to allow the federal anti-corruption agencies to investigate the Novomed scandal instead of Kano state Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission (PCCAC).

Recently, the Kano anti-corruption agency arrested five persons in connection with an alleged multi-billion-naira drug purchase scam.

Among those arrested is Garba Kwankwaso, a nephew of Rabiu Kwankwaso, a former Kano governor.

Garba is the managing director of Novomed Pharmaceuticals.

Garba and some officials were accused of violating public procurement laws by conspiring to award a contract to Novomed for the supply of drugs to the LGAs in the statement.

The journalist was also said to have published an audio programme in which one person accused Muhammadu Sanusi, the reinstated Emir of Kano, of portraying himself as sympathetic to the poor while living an expensive lifestyle like a woman.

He also shared an audio recording of Yusuf Fasaha, an opposition politician, accusing Kwankwaso of fraud.