Youth Arrested For Exposing Governor Yahaya Bello’s Abuja Residence On Social Media

For exposing Governor Bello’s Abuja multimillion mansions, 32-year-old Johnson Musa was arraigned before a Lokoja Chief Magistrate Court yesterday. While being arraigned before Lokoja Chief Magistrate Court II, Musa of Odu-Anana in Dekina Local Government of Kogi was alleged to have taken aerial pictures of the governor’s Abuja residence with a drone camera and posted it on social media.

He was said to have posted the pictures with a caption: “This building is owned by an individual in Kogi where hunger is the people’s first name.”According to the prosecuting counsel, Mohammed Abaji, Senior Legal Officer with the state Ministry of Justice, men of the State Security Service (SSS), Kogi Command, on intelligence report, arrested Musa on August 3.

He said that the intelligence report and analysis of the accused’s Samsung Galaxy S6 and Techno Phantom 6 phones with GSM numbers 081754***** and 080644***** revealed that he threatened and exposed the residence of the governor.

The action, the prosecuting counsel said, put “Governor Yahaya Bello and family into threat and harm to their property” and thereby urged the court to take cognizance of the offence of cyber stalking against the accused.

Musa pleaded not guilty to the offence and his counsel, Williams Aliwo, orally applied for his bail. The application was opposed by Abaji on the ground that investigation into the matter was ongoing aside from the fact that the penalty attached to the offence was 10 years imprisonment or an option of a minimum of N25 million fine upon conviction was grave.

In his ruling, the Chief Magistrate, Alhassan Husaini said by virtue of Section 36(5) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (As Amended), the presumption of innocence of the accused was constitutionally guaranteed.

Husaini granted the accused bail in the sum of N500, 000 with two sureties in like sum adding that the sureties must be residents within the jurisdiction of the court. Husaini adjourned to August 17.