Khalid Mu’azu Izala, the Public Relations Officer of the Peoples Democratic Party in Gombe Local Government Area of Gombe State, has been remanded in prison custody for allegedly insulting Governor Inuwa Yahaya and some members of the All Progressives Congress.
Izala is being detained on the orders of an area court following his arraignment for “defamation of character”.
He was arrested on Friday by policemen from the Lowcost Division based on the complaint of an APC chieftain, Garba Mohammed Mairago, who accused him of using his Facebook page sometime in 2019 to write defamatory statements against him (Mairago) and some unnamed members of the APC in the state.
He was also accused of criticising the policies and programmes of Governor Yahaya’s administration.
The police prosecutor, Sergeant Joel Peter, on Tuesday told the court that the accused was charged with a one-count charge of defamation of character, which was contrary to Section 391 of the Penal Code Law.
Therefore, his defense counsels, Habu Abdu and Benjamin Sati applied for his bail under Sections 36 (5), 36 (B) of the 1999 constitution as amended and Sections 340 (1), 341 (3) and 342 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC).
However, Peter objected to the bail application and told the court that the accused person may jump bail or obstruct the ongoing police investigation if he was released from detention.
The presiding judge, Chief Magistrate Bello Shariff, adjourned the case until September 8 for ruling on the bail application and ordered that the accused be remanded in Gombe Central Correctional Centre.
In March, two members of the PDP in Gombe State, Atiku Boza-Boza and Adamu Babale, were also detained in prison following their arraignment in court for allegedly insulting the state governor.
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