By Correspondent in Lokoja.
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Habibi Achile Habibu,(37), has been sentenced to two months in prison in addition to paying N5,000 fine for posting unverified information in his Facebook timeline.
The prosection told the chief court,Lokoja that Habibu, in his Facebook timeline,gave alarming rate of deaths in Kogi State during COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria.
The prosecuting counsel , Mr. Mohammed Abaji, said that Habibu acted contrary to Section 393 of Kogi State penal code by intimidating people, creating fear and inciting them against the state government.
Abaji added that the defendant raised false alarm against the backdrop of normal rate of death during COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
He added that when the state Epidemiologist was invited to testify in court to ascertain the claims by Habibu ,he said that as at the time of the Facebook posting, the death rate of death was normal, contrary to Rabiu’s belief.
The Defense Counsel, E .A Iwu, argued that the defendant acted, based on emotion after the death of his sister who died as a result of fever as at that moment.
He added that his client was pained and was in a sad mood when he posted that the rate at which fever was killing people in the state was alarming
The Chief Magistrate, Agatha Shankyula, who sentenced the convict to two months imprisonment and ordered him to pay N5,000 said that Rabiu’s action contravened Section 393 of Kogi State penal code.
Edited by Dada Ahmed.
