The recent arrest and remand of a student at the Federal University Dutse, Aminu Adamu, for criticizing the First Lady, Aisha Buhari, sparked outrage across Nigeria.
Adamu was later released after Mrs Buhari withdrew the case.
The incident has added to the growing number of people who were either remanded or jailed for allegedly “defaming government officials in the country.”
According to Section 373 of the criminal code, a defamatory case “is a matter likely to injure the reputation of any person by exposing him to hatred, contempt, or ridicule, or likely to damage any person in his profession or trade by any injury to his reputation.”
Daily Trust chronicles some recent cases involving some Nigerians who were either detained to jailed for alleged defamation.
IG WALA
In April 2022, an FCT High Court sentenced a social media commentator and activist, Ibrahim Garba Wala, to seven years’ imprisonment over offences bordering on criminal defamation and public incitement.
Wala was charged by the office of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) for posting on his Facebook and Twitter accounts some publications and videos accusing the then chairman of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), Abdullahi Mukhtar Mohammed, of diverting N3bn from the pilgrims’ funds.
One of the posts read: “Corruption in Hajj Commission! Official Documents made available to CATBAN reveals that the Chairman of NAHCON after 2017 Hajj operations makes not less than N3billion for himself. In the interim, CATBAN tends to question how NAHCON expended the total sum of N97, 906,500,000 (almost hundred billion) accrued from the payment of N1.5 million by each individuals that made up the 65, 271 being the total number of Nigeria Muslim Pilgrims for 2017 Hajj.”
Following this, NAHCON Chairman instituted a N100million defamation suit against IG Wala and Justice Yusuf Halilu convicted Wala of managing unlawful association, public incitement and defamation of character over social media posts against Muhammed.
An appeal court later reduced the seven years’ jail term to two years.
Aminu Adamu
Aminu Adamu, the student at the Federal University, Dutse, was arrested after criticizing Mrs Buhari on Twitter.
Aminu, who hails from Azare in Bauchi State, and a final-year student of the Department of Environmental Management, had in June tweeted, “Su mama Anchi Kudin Talakawa an koshi”, meaning “Mama has fed fat on poor people’s money”.
Months after, security operatives arrested and whisked him to the Presidential Villa in Abuja, where he was alleged to have been beaten and tortured.
After his arrest, Aminu was remanded at Suleja Prison in Niger State, a development that sparked outrage across the country, with many Nigerians demanding his release.
He was subsequently arraigned in Abuja, where he was denied bail despite pleading not guilty to the charges filed against him.
Aminu was released after the First lady withdrew the case against him.
Kufre Carter
On April 27 2020, a presenter with the privately owned XL 106.9 FM radio station was arrested by operatives of the Department of State Services.
Kufre Carter had featured an audio of a phone call between two unnamed people twho criticized the then Akwa Ibom State Commissioner for Health, Dominic Ukpong’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis in the state.
During his one-month long detention, a local court charged Carter with conspiracy and defamation and a N3 million bail was granted to Carter with one surety who must be a Permanent Secretary with the Akwa Ibom State Government or a civil servant of Grade Level 17.
The journalist was later released after spending one month in DSS custody.
Editorial staff members of Peoples Gazette
In July 2022, police officers raided the office of Peoples Gazette opposite NNPC quarters in Utako and arrested five editorial staff members of the Abuja-based online newspaper.
An assistant managing editor, John Adenekan, was the first to be arrested, followed by arrest of three more journalists of the newspaper: Ameedat Adeyemi, Grace Oke, Sammy Ogbu and Justina Tayani.
The journalists were said to have been detained by the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) over an allegation bordering on defamation of character.
The newspaper was said to have accused the federal government of restricting access to its website in January 2021.
Commenting on the development, the FCT police spokesperson, Josephine Adeh, said it was an invitation, following a petition written against the newspaper over alleged defamation of character.
He said, “It’s just an invitation. We received a letter of complaint for defamation of character. We now invited them. We are carrying the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) along. The secretary of NUJ is there with them where they are giving statements. We are just investigating a case.”
