Segun Awofadeji
4 November 2009
Gombe — Gombe State Police Command has arraigned the former Minister of Mines and Power in the Second Republic and Action Congress (AC) chieftain, Alhaji Mohammed Ibrahim Hassan, before the Chief Magistrate's Court One in Gombe for allegedly giving false information with intent to mislead the public.
The suspect was subsequently remanded in prison.
Police First Information Report (FIR), which was read in the court, said that on July 29th, 2009, Hassan wrote a petition to Mike Okiro, former Inspector General of Police (IG), where he accused Governor of Gombe State, Alhaji Muhammad Danjuma Goje, and the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Joseph Ahmed Ibi, of killing 60 citizens of the state through "kalare" activities.
The FIR added that the former minister knew or had reason to believe that the information in his petition was false and capable of misleading members of the public.
It explained that the wrong information caused the IG to commit huge human/material resources to investigate the allegation which was later found to be baseless and malicious and thereby committed an offence punishable under section 140 of the penal code.
The suspect pleaded not guilty to the charge, insisting that he had not committed any offence under any Nigerian law. He further said he is ready to defend himself.
Leading a team of prosecutors from the Gombe State Police Command, the officer in charge of Legal Department of the command, Yahaya Ogibiti (ASP), urged the presiding Judge of the court, Chief Magistrate Joseph Garba Shinga, not to oblige bail to the suspect on the ground that investigation is not completed, adding that he could also tamper with their investigation if granted bail.
According to the prosecutors, the accused person is capable of prejudicing their investigation and their witnesses as well as escaping justice. He said it took the police over three weeks to be able to arrest the suspect.
He cited three decided cases to buttress his objection to the bail of the accused person.
In his application for bail of the accused person, under sections 35 and 40 of the constitution and penal code, Mr Luka Haruna averred that the accused was a man of impeccable character, re-known and respected personality and living with his family in a personal house in Gombe.
Therefore, he pointed out, escaping justice or jumping bail or tampering with police investigation and witnesses was not a tenable reason.
He further submitted that the offence was contrary to section 140 of the penal code which is a simple offence that carries punishment of one year, if ever he could be found guilty.
It has an option of fine and above all, the offence is bailable.
Adjourning the case to November 6, 2009 for ruling on the bail application, Chief Magistrate Shinga stated that numerous authorities were cited by both the prosecution and defence, it would amount to rushing justice if he were to peruse through all the authorities and rule upon the application.
He said the hands of the court were not tied but that time was against the court. For the sake of justice, the case needs to be adjourned briefly to enable him rule on the bail application, he said.
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