Court Remands Deji Adeyanju Till February 2019

Political activist, Deji Adeyanju, has been remanded in prison until February 2019.

He was remanded following the order of a Chief Magistrate’s Court in Kano today Friday, December 21.

Adeyanju had been dragged before the court for the reopening of a murder case which he was discharged and acquitted for by the Kano State High Court following a lengthy trial that lasted between 2005 and 2009.

He was first arraigned before the magistrate court on Wednesday December 19th. At the hearing of his bail application today, the magistrate, Hassan Fagge, said his court lacked jurisdiction to hear the murder charges against Adeyanju. He however ordered that Adeyanju should be remanded in prison custody till February 6th when a higher court could be available to hear the matter.

Deji who was rearrested by the police in December 13th, was detained for over a week before he was arraigned.

Reacting to the decision by the magistrate court, Adeyanju’s lawyer, Yusuf Suleiman, said that the decision by the court shows that the Federal government was out to deal with anyone that criticizes their government.

“This is clearly an attempt to keep him unlawfully in detention.  After detaining him in Abuja for several days without arraignment, in violation of the Constitution that gives a maximum 48 years for such detention, they now charged him for attempted murder which the magistrate said he has no power to hear. Now a lower court is hearing a matter that the Kano State High Court had decided long ago” Suleiman said