Detained spokesman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Gombe local government area of Gombe state, Mr Khalid Mu’azu Izala will know his fate Tuesday as he returns to court to argue his bail application.
Izala is currently on trial over alleged defamation of character of some members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
At the last sitting, the PDP chieftain’s legal team argued the bail application brought forward before the Chief Magistrate’s Court 4, but the prosecution strongly objected.
The court will however give its ruling Tuesday.
Izala was arrested by the State Low Cost Police Divisional Office Friday 28th August 2020 on the request of one 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.
Consequent upon this, he was arraigned by the police prosecutor, Sergeant Joel Peter on 1st September 2020 and was charged with one-count charge of defamation of character which was contrary to Section 391 of the Penal Code Law.
According to the Police First Information Report (FIR), read to the accused when he appeared in court, he posted on his Facebook page that Mairago and some members of the APC were planning to ‘terrorize’ him.
The prosecutor said the accused was charged with a one-count charge of defamation of character which was contrary to Section 391 of the Penal Code Law.
When asked by the court if the information as contained in the FIR was true, Izala said it was not correct.
Therefore, his defence counsels, Barristers 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, Sergeant Peter objected the bail application and told the court that the accused person may jump bail or obstruct the ongoing police investigation if released from detention.
The presiding judge, Chief Magistrate Bello Shariff adjourned the case to today 8th September 2020 for ruling on the bail
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