A Chief Magistrate’s Court in Kaduna has ordered the remand of an activist and political commentator Mahdi Shehu in the Nigerian Correctional Centre, Kaduna over fake and inciting videos.
Mahdi Shehu was arraigned Tuesday before Magistrate Abubakar Lamido by the Department of State Services (DSS). He was earlier arrested by the DSS for sharing the videos on his social media handles and refusing to unpublish same even after his attention was drawn to their false nature.
- See video of Mahdi Shehu’s arraignment: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1AGRa4FAcv
Shehu faces a two-count charge of conspiracy, aiding and abetting terrorism, which the agency said is contrary to Section 26 (2)(3) of the Terrorism (Prevention & Prohibition) Act, 2022 and Inciting Public Disturbances Contrary to Section 78 of the Penal Code Law of Kaduna State, 2017.
In his ruling, Magistrate Lamido ordered Mahdi Shehu to be remanded in a correctional facility in Kaduna until January 14, 2025, for further hearing on the matter.
The video, which has been fact checked and established to be misleading by a national dailies, claimed that President Bola Tinubu had approved the siting of a French military base in Northern Nigeria.
The video clips posted by Mahdi Shehu were found to be 2013 footages of Nigerian soldiers at Bamako Airportthei, Mali, during their deployment for an African Union Peace Keeping Mission in Mali.
The military leader of Niger Republic, Abdourahamane Tchiani, had made a similar false claim earlier, which was dismissed by the National Security Adviser (NSA) Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, as well as the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris.
