By Toyeeb Omotayo
The Kwara State Chief Magistrate Court has turned down the application made by the Kwara State Government to order the arrest of National Pilot Newspaper reporter Ahmed Ajikobi by the Nigeria Police for investigation.
Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on New Media, Mr. Michael Fafoluyi, had filed a petition against Ajikobi and the medium, accusing them of publishing allegedly defamatory and malicious reports about Governor Mallam Abdulrahman Abdulrasaq.
Ajikobi was docked alongside the medium’s Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief, Alhaji Billy Adedamola, who appeared in court with other veteran journalists to represent the National Pilot Newspaper, sued under the registered name ‘Mandate International Publication.’
The duo were dragged before Chief Magistrate Shade Lawal for alleged offences including Criminal Conspiracy, Defamation, Inciting Public Disturbance, Injurious Falsehood, Cyber Stalking, among others.
At the resumed hearing, prosecution counsel, Barrister S.O., in his application, prayed the court to refer the matter to the police for investigation.
Magistrate Lawal frowned at the development, berating the prosecution for insisting that the court must order the police to take over the case already before her.
She stated that the prosecution should have taken the defendants to the police for investigation before the court’s arraignment.
In response to the issue of the defendants’ bail, defense counsel, Barrister Owoniseola Micheal, urged the court to discountenance the submission of his colleague seeking their remand in the Correctional facility.
He argued that the defendants have reliable sureties who will stand for them and emphasized that the matter is not a capital offence. He further urged the court to exercise its discretionary power in favor of the defendants.
Magistrate Lawal, in a brief ruling, granted bail to each defendant in the sum of N500,000 and two sureties in like sum. One of the sureties must be a member of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ). The case was adjourned to the 11th of next month.
The allegations against the National Pilot Newspaper were cited in both online and hardcopy publications of the National Pilot Newspaper, Vol. 34, No. 38 of Sunday, 15 May 2023, and on the 16th of October 2023.
These publications raised concerns over various issues pertaining to governance and public administration in Kwara State.
