A 32 year old man identified as Johnson Musa was last Friday arraigned before a Lokoja Chief Magistrate Court II for allegedly
taking aerial photos of the Abuja residence of Kogi state governor, Yahaya Bello’s, with a drone camera and posting it on social
media. Musa posted the photos with the captioned
“This building is owned by an individual in
Kogi where hunger is the people’s first
name.”
The prosecuting counsel, Mohammed Abaji,
who is a Senior Legal Officer with the Kogi
state Ministry of Justice, told the court that
by sharing the photos online, Musa
threatened and exposed the state governor
and members of his family to danger. Abaji
said Musa was arrested by men of the State
Security Service (SSS), Kogi Command, on
intelligence report on August 3rd.
While being arraigned, Musa pleaded not
guilty to the offense. He applied for bail
orally through his counsel. The prosecutor
however opposed to his bail application on
the grounds that investigation into the
matter was ongoing and that the penalty
attached to the offense was 10 years
imprisonment or option of a minimum of
N25 million fine upon conviction.
The Chief Magistrate, Alhassan Husaini said
by virtue of Section 36(5) of the Constitution
of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (As
Amended), the presumption of innocence of
the accused was constitutionally
guaranteed. He then granted Musa bail in
the sum of N500, 000 with two sureties in
like sum and that the sureties must be
resident within the jurisdiction of the court.
The case was adjourned to August 17th.
