Abuja – Agba Jalingo, a Nigerian journalist, has been remanded in Kuje prison from Monday, March 27, till Thursday, March 30.
Jalingo was accused of defaming Elizabeth Ayade, the wife of Frank Ayade, who is a brother of Cross River State Governor, Ben Ayade.
A judge in the Federal High Court in Abuja, Justice Zainab Bage Abubakar, remanded the journalist to Kuje prison for cybercrime today, March 27.
It was reported that Justice Abubakar denied Jalingo’s lawyers the chance to request bail.
Jalingo, the publisher of CrossRiverWatch, was arrested on August 22, 2019, by the police after hours of laying siege to his Lagos residence for allegedly defaming the character of Elizabeth.
According to a court document filed before the Federal High Court in Abuja on December 6, 2022, the police claimed the publication by the journalist against Elizabeth was false and was released for the purpose of causing her annoyance, ill will, and insult.
On Monday, March 27, 2023, during the continuation of the trial, the judge ordered that Agba Jalingo should be arraigned in the dock and be read his one-count charge.
The charge sheet read: “That you Agba Jalingo male of No.14 Oremeji Street, Ojudu Alapere Lagos on 30th June, 2022 within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did intentionally publish online at Cross River Watch and alleged that one Mrs Elizabeth Ayade procured the services of one Pascal Aboh to write Nigeria Law School Examination Bar Examination for her, information you know to be false for the purpose of causing her annoyance, ill will and insult. You thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 24(1) b of CYBERCRIMES (PROTECTION, PREVENTION ETC) ACT, 2015.
“That you Agba Jalingo male of No.14 Oremeji Street, Ojudu Alapere Lagos on 30th June, 2022 within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did intentionally published on your Facebook page known as Agba Jalingo that one Mrs Elizabeth Ayade procured the services of one Pascal Aboh to write Nigeria Law School Examination Bar Examination for her, information you know to be false for the purpose of causing her annoyance, ill will and insult. You thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 24(1) b of CYBERCRIMES (PROTECTION, PREVENTION ETC) ACT, 2015.”
