Yola court remands business man for calling Fintiri ‘father of all thieves

By Abdulaziz Ibrahim

A chief magistrate’s court II sitting in Yola, the Adamawa State capital, has on Monday remanded a business man Ali Yakubu Numan in prison custody for calling governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, the father of all thieves.

Magistrate Japhet Ibrahim Basani, remanded Ali Numan, who was earlier arraigned before him for insulting Fintiri, on social media.

Ali Numan, had on the11th, 12th, 13th, 17th, 20th and 29th July, 2021 reportedly, published insulting and denigrating statements in Hausa and Fulfulde languages against the person of governor Fintiri via his Facebook page.

He described Governor Fintiri as a thief, a biggest and father of all thieves in Nigeria who stole indomie, spaghetti and hundreds of billions of naira.

According to the statement of complaint by the Attorney General and commissioner for Justice A.K Jingi, which was lodged in the court by M. A. Adamu (Senior State Counsel 2), the action of the defendant generated tension among supporters of Fintiri and his supporters.

It informed the court that it took the intervention of the operatives of the Department of State Security Service (DSS) to calm both factions.

It added that the intervention prompted a complaint to the department by the Youth Leader of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) Yola North LGA; hence, the arrest of the defendant for prosecution.

When the complaint was read and interpreted to the defendant, he admitted that he had actually insulted Governor Fintiri.

Thereafter, counsel to the complainant, M.A. Adamu, prayed the court to adjourn the matter to enable him assemble witnesses to corroborate the plea entered by the defendant.

In his ruling on the application, Magistrate Basani, ordered the remand of the defendant at a correctional center, and adjourned the case to the 11th August, 2021, for corroboration and summary trial.