Journalist in prison for sharing content critical of Kano governor, emir

A journalist in Kano has been remanded in prison for sharing media content deemed critical of state government officials, including Governor Abba Yusuf and the reinstated emir, Lamido Sanusi.

Muktar Dahiru, a staffer of Radio Nigeria, Pyramid FM Kano, was arrested by the police and remanded in a correctional facility on Thursday for allegedly sharing on Facebook content considered offensive by the state government.

In several posts, Mr Dahiru shared a broadcast audio interview with an opposition politician accusing the governor of corruption.

The opposition politician challenged the governor to allow federal anti-corruption agencies to investigate the Novomed scandal instead of the state anti-corruption agency.

Novomed Pharmaceutical, owned by Musa Kwankwakso, a younger brother of the former governor, Rabiu Kwankwakso, is being investigated over a contract with the state government.

In another video post, Mr Dahiru shared a radio programme by the governor’s political adviser, Anas Abba-Dala, speculating that the Nigerian vice president, Kashim Shettima, is not a Nigerian.

In the programme, Mr Abba-Dala alleged that Mr Shettima betrayed his political godfather, Ali-Modu Sheriff, adding that it was Mr Shettima’s relatives who invaded a mosque in Kano and killed an Islamic cleric, Ja’afar Adam, in 2007. Mr Dahiru captioned the post: ”This is beyond politics.”

In another post, Mr Dahiru shared an audio programme in which one person accuses the reinstated emir of pretentiousness by portraying himself as sympathetic to the poor while living an expensive lifestyle like a woman.

In another post, Mr Dahiru shared an audio recording of an opposition politician, Yusuf Fasaha, accusing the former governor, Mr Kwankwaso, of fraud.

“When we were in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Kwankwaso collected N320 million from our group for the interest nomination form, but he later shared the seats with people he liked and refused to conduct a primary election. We requested a refund of our money in several meetings, but Kwankwaso refused to refund it,” Mr Fasaha said in the audio recording posted by the journalist.

Mr Dahiru was secretly charged before Magistrate Court 24 at Gyadi Gyadi, Court Road, with criminal conspiracy, defamation of character, and intentional insult. The government said the alleged offences contravene sections 97,391 and 115 of the Penal Code Law.

The political adviser to the governor, Abba-Dala, complained against Mr Dahiru to the police that Mr Dahiru, in a Facebook post, called him an illiterate person and that he tarnished his image by stating that he impregnated a woman (out of wedlock).

The magistrate, Ummah Kurawa, ordered Mr Dahiru remanded in a correctional facility until 3 September for a bail application hearing.