As The Clampdown On Freedom Speech Continues, Former Lecturer Remanded In Prison In Kaduna Over Facebook Post!

John Danfulani

A former lecturer with the Kaduna State University (KASU), Dr. John Danfulani, has been remanded in the Kaduna Prison for 12 days for criticizing the administrative style of the present government in a Facebook post, according to 247ureports.com

Danfulani, a former lecturer in the departments of political science of the state university, has been having a running battle with the state government over his persistence criticism of the administration of Governor Nasiru El-rufai.

He was earlier arraigned in January 2016 before a Magistrate Court by the State’s  Commissioner of Police over a Facebook post he was alleged to have made criticizing the state and federal government handling of economic issues. He spends six days in prison before his bail application could be heard, but the case was subsequently struck out for lack of merit when it came up for hearing. He later resigned from his lecturing job over what he termed as ‘harassment’.

The Kaduna State Ministry of Justice yesterday filed a fresh case numbered: KDH/KAD/102c/16 against him at the State High Court, before Justice Bilkisu Mohammed.

In the ‘Notice to Prefer a Charge’, signed by both Bayero Dari and Abdullahi Isiaka for the Ministry of Justice, the state said that the  alleged criminal charges against Dr. Danfulani falls under section 417 and 418 of the Penal Code Law.

They went ahead to state that the alleged Facebook post he made on 28thDecember 2015  where he talked about fuel scarcity,  high  foreign exchange and a high number of out of school children in the north, sought to excite hatred and contempt against the people of Nigeria.

When the case came up for hearing today, Dr. Danfulani, pleaded not guilty when the charges were read to him. But the Judge said he should be remanded in prison till the 7th of November, 2016 when she will be back from a ‘seminar’ to listen to the bail application.

But Dr. Danfulani who spoke to newsmen at the court premises before taken to prison said he is being persecuted for simply criticizing the activities of both the state and federal government. He added that the constitution of the federal government gives him the right to freely express his opinion on issues of governance that he is not comfortable with.

The bail application comes up for hearing on 7th November 2016