Businessman Ali Yakubu Numan has been sentenced to prison for referring to Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa State, Northeastern Nigeria, as ‘Father of all thieves.’
Gatekeepers News reports that Magistrate Japhet Basani presided over the matter at a Yola Chief Magistrate Court II on Wednesday.
The charges against Numan were “publishing insulting and denigrating statements in Hausa and Fulfulde against Fintiri on the 11th, 12th, 13th, 17th, 20th and 29th July, 2021 respectively, on his Facebook page.”
Numan, in the said Facebook post, had allegedly described Fintiri as “a thief, a father of all thieves in Nigeria who stole Indomie, spaghetti and billions of naira.”
The State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Afraimu Jingi, who wrote a statement of complaint on behalf of Governor Fintiri, said the action of the defendant had generated tension in the state which was capable of causing incitement and a breach of peace.
Numan’s counsel, R. N. Agav, pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy, informing the court that his client is a first-time offender.
Delivering the judgement, the Magistrate handed Numan a two-and-a-half-year jail term with an option of N50,000 fine for ridiculing and insulting the governor.
Gatekeepers News reports that Numan was also sentenced to six-month imprisonment without an option of a fine for disturbance of public peace.
