Abuja Court Sentences Rights Activist IG Wala to 12 Years in Prison Over Facebook Post

An Abuja High Court on April 16, 2019, sentenced Ibrahim Wala, popularly known as IG Wala, to 12 years in jail after being found guilty of gathering unlawful assembly and criminal defamation of character.

Delivering the ruling, Justice Yusuf Halilu ruled that Wala is guilty of three of the four charges brought against him by Abdullahi Mukhtar, Chairman of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON).

On September 26, 2017, Wala, convener of Citizens Action to Take Back Nigeria (CATBAN), had made a Facebook post accusing Mukhtar of corruptly enriching himself with N3billion after the 2017 Hajj.

“Official documents made available to CATBAN reveals that the Chairman of NAHCON, after the 2017 Hajj operations, makes not less than N3 billion for himself," read a part of the post.