Alleged criminal defamation: Court admits Ganduje’s critic, Mu’azu Magaji on N1 million bail

A Kano Magistrate Court sitting in No-man’s-land on Friday admitted the bail application on former commissioner for Works and Infrastructure in Kano, Muazu Magaji, to the sum of N1million with two sureties.

Presiding Magistrate, Aminu Gabari, while ruling on the application, ordered that one of the sureties should either be village head of Dan-Sarauniya, in Dawakin-Tofa local council where the suspect originated, Hisbah Commander of the local council or the Chief Imam.

Besides, the magistrate directed the court registry to inspect the sureties, including their houses, to ascertain their ingenuity while ordering the suspect to submit his international passport and photographs to the court registrar.

The court had on Monday denied the bail application of Magaji on the ground that the suspect has not provided credible evidence to substantiate his medical condition while granting the appeal of the prosecution which cited the gravity of the offence.

Magaji, who is standing trial on four count charges bothering on criminal defamation of character against Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, was ordered to remain in prison after the bail application was rejected. The deviant critics of late Abba Kyari, Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, and Ganduje had pleaded non-guilty to the charges read to him.

One Adekunle Falola had accused Muaz Magaji of character assassination, assault, and intentional insult with the intent to provoke breach of peace and inciting disturbance and disaffection against Ganduje.

Muaz was accused of posting the image on his Facebook page where Ganduje was having an intimate chat with a female in his office, an act, the complainer alleged was capable of portraying the governor as immoral and ungodly man. The offenses are punishable under sections 114, 264, and 399 of the Kano State Penal Code.

The case is adjourned to March 2, 2022, for further deliberation.