Femi Adi/Kaduna

John Danfulani: granted bail

A Chief Magistrate Court  in Kaduna on Monday granted bail to the  Kaduna State University , KASU, lecturer , Dr. John Danfulani who allegedly  posted an  inciting  and hateful comment on Facebook.

The presiding magistrate, Awalu Musa , said since the case before the court was a bailable offence , there was no reason to deny the accused bail.

He however, granted  bail to the lecturer in the  sum of N5million bond with two sureties with N2.5 million  each .

He said  each of the sureties should be  a director with the state civil service .

Earlier, the prosecuting counsel, Ibrahim Jamil urged the court to allow the lecturer to remain in police custody for three weeks pending when investigation  on the matter before the court is concluded.

The court had on Friday detained the lecturer and  asked the prosecution  to complete   investigation at  the weekend,  but the prosecution reported the investigation was handicapped  because, corporate offices and telecom service providers were shut at the weekend.

However, the defence counsel to the KASU lecturer , Barrister Gamaliel Kore, who led 12 lawyers to the court , vehemently opposed the prosecution’s application to detain the lecturer for another three weeks .

He posited that  the order of the court was for the prosecutors  to conclude investigations between  Friday and Sunday , which they did not do and didn’t apologise.

According to defence counsel,  the prosecutors   only gave  excuses . “We all know that telecom service providers  operate all days of the week, ” he added.

He submitted that since the prosecution  have clearly disobeyed the court , he urged the court to grant the accused bail in liberal terms.

“It is an attempt on  the side of prosecution to punish an innocent person accused of  an offence he has not been convicted of. Investigation is not a factor to be  considered in granting bail.”

He equally told the court that there is no justice and  fairness if the court allows the accused to be remanded.

The case has been adjourned till  7 March 2016 for further hearing.
Also read: Dan Fulani’s detention