Kano Magistrate Court has ordered the remand of All Progressives Congress (APC) stalwart, Abdulmajid Kwamanda, over alleged call for resistance againstpolicies of the Kano State government, especially the purported move by to alter the present structure of Kano Emirate Council.
Kwamanda, who was arraigned by Kano Police Command for alleged breach of public peace, was said to have promoted violence through a live programme on a local radio station in Kano.
On arraignment, Tuesday evening, prosecution counsel, Abdussalam Danmaidaki, told the court that Kwamanda’s actions contravened Section 144 of the Kano State Penal Code.
However, the defendant pleaded not guilty to the charge.
In response, the defence counsel, Ibrahim Chedi, pleaded with the court to grant the defendant bail, assuring that he would not jump bail.
Chedi also informed the court that the defendant was ill, appealing for the court to exercise its discretion in favour of his client.
He supported the bail application with provisions of Sections 35 (5) and 36 of the constitution, as well as the relevant provisions of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law (ACJL) 2019.
But the prosecution counsel opposed the bail application.
After listening to the arguments, the presiding magistrate ordered the remand of the suspect and adjourned the matter till January 29, 2024 for ruling on the bail application.
Prior to his arraignment, the police had detailed Kwamanda for calling Kano residents to reject the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) administration’s plan to dissolve the five emirates.
Kwamanda was quoted as saying: “I am calling on Kano people to stand against government’s plan to dismantle our five emirates and their emirs. Any attempt to dismantle them will be met with resistance. We would make Kano ungovernable and make sure state of emergency is declared in Kano.”
The Commissioner of Police (CP), Mohammed Gumel, said the suspect, while featuring on a local radio station, and in a viral video, called on residents of the state to resist attempts by the state government to reorganise the current structure of the five Emirate Councils in the state.
He said he had profiled the suspect and found that he had been using the same medium to disseminate hate speech, recorded on various social and conventional media channels, as a money-making venture.
Gumel urged citizens, especially Kano residents, to note that those potentially harmful messages were ill-intended and could not project anything good or promote political interests; hence, they should “quietly ignore the subversive content” when they come across them.
He added: “A word is enough for the wise. There is no more space for any form of criminality in our area of supervision, as competent intelligence officers have been deployed in and outside the metropolis to build confidence of the people and beef up the desired peace relentlessly.”
