Police arraign Bauchi Islamic cleric for public disturbance

A Bauchi-based Islamic cleric, Sheikh Idris Abdulaziz, was on Monday arraigned by the Police on a one-count charge of public disturbance and inciting public unrest.

However, he was admitted to N1 million bail bond with three sureties by Chief Magistrates’ Court 1 sitting in Bauchi, News Agency of Nigeria reports.

The court held that considering the status of the renowned scholar, one of the sureties must be his District Head, and the second surety must be a Permanent Secretary with the Bauchi State Government, who is to provide a Certificate of Occupancy of a landed property values not less than N5 million.

It added that the third surety should be a religious scholar, who must be the defendant’s colleague.

The court also ordered the defendant and the sureties to submit their recent passport photographs and other means of identification.

Chief Magistrate Abdulfatah Sekoni, while ruling on the bail application, said the court did not obtain the full facts surrounding the case when it was first brought before it, hence the dependent remand at a correctional facility, to enable it to study the First Information Report (FIR) and the circumstances surrounding the case.

According to Sekoni, having meticulously gone through the case, it is ideal to grant the applicant bail and to do otherwise will amount to injustice.

“There is no room for this court at this stage to express its sentiments as it is a matter of law, facts and circumstances which the court considers without being emotional or sentimental.

“Based on the above premise and most importantly in the interest of justice, this court deems it fit to grant the applicant bail upon the fulfilment of the following conditions and he must bear with me that the bail will be stringent taking into consideration the nature and circumstances of the case involved.

“There will be a bail bond in the sum of N1 million and three credible sureties in the like sum,” he said.

The presiding judge adjourned the case until May 24, for hearing.

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