TheNewsGuru

Tag: Kano State Police Command

  • Court sentences blasphemous Bala to 24yrs imprisonment for blasphemy against Islam

    Court sentences blasphemous Bala to 24yrs imprisonment for blasphemy against Islam

    The president of the Humanist Association of Nigeria, Mubarak Bala, 37, has been sentenced by a Kano State High Court, to 24 years imprisonment for blasphemy against Islam.
    .

    Bala, two years after his arrest, was sentenced on Tuesday after he was earlier arraigned on an 18-count charge bordering on blasphemy, incitement, contempt of religion and breach of public peace.

     

    The convict had pleaded guilty to the charges.

     

    Delivering judgment, Justice Farouk Lawan, sentenced the convict to 24 years imprisonment.

     

    The judge also ordered that the sentence term would commence from the day that the convict was arrested.

     

    He also ordered that the sentences for all the 18 charges for which Bala was convicted should run concurrently.

     

    Earlier, the Prosecution Counsel, Mr Muhammad Sani, told the court that the convict had on April 28, 2020, made a blasphemous post on his Facebook page.

     

    Sanusi said the post was against Allah and Prophet Muhammad and had caused a major outrage in the city of Kano, where the convict hails from.

     

    According to the prosecutor, the offence contravened the provision of Sections 114 and 210 of the Penal Code.

     

    The Defence Counsel, Mr James Ibor, pleaded for leniency on behalf of his client, who concurred and promised not to repeat the blasphemous comments.

     

    Blasphemous Bala was arrested in 2020 in Kaduna state, and transferred to Kano, his home state. He has been in detention since then.

     

    On April 27 2020, Bala compared popular Lagos pastor and president of Synagogue Church of Nations Prophet TB Joshua to Prophet Mohammed.

     

    “There’s no difference between prophet TB Joshua (S.A.W) of Lagos and Muhammadu (A.S.) of Saudi Arabia, it is better for our Nigeria to be terrorism,” Bala said wrote on his Facebook page.

     

    In another post, Bala said, “Whoever believes religion has been duped – If you cant take blasphemy against Islam, criticizism of its doctrines, this page is not for you. I have not even started ooo.”

     

    His posts were greeted with threats of arrest for blasphemy in the comment section. Unbothered about his stance against Islam, Bala said the threat was from ‘morons’ who should know better.

     

    Days later, a group of lawyers petitioned the Kano State Police command to prosecute Bala for insulting Prophet Muhammad.

     

    Bala renounced his Islamic faith in 2014.

  • Shekarau back in Court over N900m money laundering charges

    Shekarau back in Court over N900m money laundering charges

    The Federal High Court sitting in Kano on Thursday adjourned the case of alleged money laundering against former governor of Kano State, Ibrahim Shekarau.
    Shekarau was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) alongside former external affairs minister Aminu Wali and one Mansur Ahmad on a six-count charge bordering on conspiracy and money laundering to the tune of N950 million.
    When the case came up for hearing, the Judge, Justice Lewis Allagoa, who was just assumed duty at the Court, adjourned the trial till Nov. 19, 20, and 21, 2018.
    The judge replaced Justice Zainab Bage who was transferred.
    Counsel to the EFCC, Mr Johnson Ojogbane, had earlier told the court that the defendants, between March 26 and 27, 2015, conspired among themselves and received the said amount without going through financial institutions.
    He said that the money was issued to the defendants by the Peoples Democratic Party and former petroleum minister Diezani Allison-Madueke.
    The prosecutor said that the offences contravened sections 18 (a) of the Money Laundering (prohibition) Act 2011 as amended and punishable under section 16 (2)(b) of the same Act and Section 15(1) of money laundering Act.
    The trio had pleaded not guilty to the charges.
    Before the adjournment, the defense counsel, Mr Jibrin Okutekpa (SAN) prayed that the court to extend the bail granted to his clients by the former judge in line with Section 163 of the Criminal Justice Act 2015.
    The judge acceded to the request to extend the bail before adjourning to Nov. 19, 201 and 21 for continuation of the trial.
    Recall that Bage had granted the defendants bail in the sum of N100 million each with two reliable sureties in like sum.