Court dismisses case against Adamawa governor’s critic

A chief magistrate court in Yola has struck out a character defamation case filed against a foremost critic of Adamawa State governor, Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri.

Hussaini Gambo, a member of the All Progressive Congress (APC) was sued by a group, Adamawa Global Trustees (AGT) few days after a telephone altercation in which the governor purportedly threatened to deal with him ostensibly for his criticism of the governor’s handling of COVID-19 palliatives.

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Presiding judge, Chief Magistrate Rejoice E. Dattire struck out the case on Monday after the complainants and their legal representation failed to appear before the court.

She cited the provision of Section 352 (1) of the Adamawa State Criminal Justice Law which empowers judges to strike out cases where the complainants or legal representation were not present in the court.

Commending the judge for dismissing the case, counsel to the defendant, Barrister Desmond S. Adebole said the complainants were a faceless group while the case was baseless.

“It is even the governor that was threatening him in the conversation and not the other way round. We are shocked that they arraigned him before the court”.

“We just mentioned the case and the group that claimed to have filed the case didn’t appear so we regard them as faceless. It was on that basis that the judge struck out the matter invoking S.352 (1) of the Adamawa State Criminal Justice Law,” Barrister Adebole highlighted.