Dare Akogun and Abdulrasheed Akogun, two arrested journalist brothers accused of defaming and stirring up the public against Kwara State Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, were granted bail by an Ilorin Magistrate Court on Wednesday.
The two journalists were granted several demands by Magistrate Bio Saliu, including a bail of N500,000 apiece and a surety with a piece of land in Ilorin.
Around 10:15 am, the courthouse was flooded with sympathizers, coworkers, and family members as the jailed journalists were brought there unchained.
The police prosecutor and the representative of the State Attorney General’s office and the Commissioner of Justice got into a small argument about how the matter was handled by the Attorney General’s office.
In order to be in good standing for the bail application, the attorney general’s office representative, Abdulmumeen Busari, requested from the court at least 24 hours to review the case after taking over the matter.
Busari added that he needed to give a fair hearing in the matter and that it would be unfair for him if his plea were denied.
I strenuously reject that application asking for 24 hours to answer, however, said Barrister C.N. Olaitan, Counsel to the Defendants.
To take over and continue is the key phrase in the content of their handling of the situation. Therefore, depending on the course of action that was taken, they may either swim or sink.
He added, “On the issue of fair hearing cited by the representative of the Attorney General, it means opportunity should be given to both parties, and once opportunity has been given and a party refuses to take advantage of the opportunity, he can’t cry foul of being denied fair hearing.
“The liberty of the defendants is at stake and their application is to continue to incarcerate the suspects in prison custody. It’s their constitutional rights to receive the bail, so I urged the court to refuse the application of the office of the AG.”
The defendants’ counsel also said that the prosecution was duly served in the bail application and that their refusal to file any counter was an admission of all the deposition in the bail application.
He, therefore, asked the court to admit the defendants to bail on liberal ground.
Magistrate Bio in his ruling granted bail to the defendants and adjourned the case till November 23,2022 for further hearing.
It would be recalled that the governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Mallam Rafiu Ajakaye, through a petition to the Commissioner of Police, accused the duo of defamation and inciting the public against the government.
Ajakaye alleged that AbdulRasheed posted a comment on the popular WhatsApp platform, Kwara Commission, accusing the government of being most corrupt and of facilitating N15 million to prosecute the last election of the Kwara state council election of the Nigerian Union of Journalist.
Our correspondent noted that during the intervention of Kwara State Police Commissioner, Paul Odama, he advised that the two defendants should write apology letter to the governor but the duo claimed that the apology could be used against them both now and in the future by the government.
The defendants further claimed during the intervention that they have evidences to proof their claims, and were ready to press the charges against the state government; a development that made the police commissioner to order the prosecution of the case.