A SOKOTO Chief Magistrate Court has granted bail to Shafi’u Umar, who is standing trial for allegedly circulating falsehoods against Governor Ahmad Aliyu and his wife on social media.
Umar, 37, who was the Special Assistant to former Gov Aminu Tambuwal, is charged with circulating injurious falsehood defamatory content against the incumbent governor and his wife.
The prosecution said the defendant circulated a video of the governor’s wife, Fatima Aliyu, “ spraying” money during her birthday ceremony despite the present hardships faced by citizens.
The defendant had pleaded not guilty to the charges and was earlier remanded in a correctional centre. Ruling on the bail application filed by the lead defence counsel, Al’Mustafa Abubakar, the trial judge, Fatima Hassan, granted Umar bail in the sum of N1 million with a surety in like sum.
Hassan ordered that the surety should be a resident of Sokoto and deposit his national identity card along with two copies of passport photographs in the court.
She adjourned the case to October 10, 2024, for the prosecution to complete the investigation as assured by the police prosecutor.
She ordered that the defendant be remanded in a correctional facility pending meeting his bail conditions.
