Journalist Remanded For Defaming Police Commissioner

An Owerri magistrate court in Imo state has remanded Chinonso Ubah, a journalist with Ozisa FM, to the Owerri Correctional Centre for defamation.

Uba was arraigned on Wednesday before the Chief Magistrate, His Worship Adikaibe, on five counts preferred against him by N.S. Onwochie, Legal Prosecution Officer, Owerri, Imo State on behalf of the state police commissioner.

Operatives of the Imo police command arrested Ubah on October 21 for allegedly defaming Aboki Danjuma, the state’s commissioner of police.

Uba was also accused of cyberstalking and inciting the public to burn the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) study centre in Mbano.

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At Uba’s arraignment, the prosecuting counsel appeared for the Commissioner of Police/Imo State government while C.K. Mgbekonye Esq., E.T. Okolie Esq., F. N. Obisike Esq., O. F. Olegeme, Esq. and E.N. Nwaibari, Esq. appeared for the Defendant.

However, when the charges were read to the Defendant, the court did not allow him to take a plea on the ground that the court lacks jurisdiction to entertain the charges.

The Defendant’s lead counsel, Mgbekonye, applied for Uba’s bail and urged the court to admit the Defendant to bail.

The lawyer told the court that his prayer for the bail relied on Section 36(5) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).

Mgbekonye further told the court that the offences the Defendant is being accused of fall under the ones the court can exercise its discretion on regarding the granting of bail.

But the prosecution counsel who opposed the Defence counsel’s oral bail application cited section 93(1) of the Imo State Administration of Criminal Justice Law, which according to him, gave only the High Court the power to grant bail upon application.

The prosecution counsel therefore asked the court to refuse the oral bail application on the ground that the court lacks jurisdiction to grant bail or hear the charges.

In its decision, the Court declined jurisdiction to grant the Defendant bail and ordered that he should be remanded at the Owerri Correctional Center.

The Court then asked the defence counsel to apply for the Defendant’s bail at the High Court.

The court thereafter adjourned the case to November 11, 2024 for Directorate of Public Prosecution report and transmission of the case file to the High Court.