SaharaReproters earlier reported that the Nigeria Police Force, Kwara State Command, charged Dare Akogun, and his brother, Abdulrasheed, and took them to a Magistrates’ Court in Ilorin over some WhatsApp chats accusing the Chief Press Secretary to the state governor, Rafiu Ajakaye of misconduct.
The criminal case initiated against the Akogun brothers, Dare, a news editor with Sobi FM, a private radio station in Ilorin, and Abdulrasheed, publisher of FreshinsightTV, has been dropped by the Kwara State government.
SaharaReproters earlier reported that the Nigeria Police Force, Kwara State Command, charged Dare Akogun, and his brother, Abdulrasheed, and took them to a Magistrates’ Court in Ilorin over some WhatsApp chats accusing the Chief Press Secretary to the state governor, Rafiu Ajakaye of misconduct.
It was gathered that Akogun and his brother made some comments on a WhatsApp platform “Kwara Commission”, claiming the CPS to the governor facilitated the payment of N15 million to some candidates in the recent Nigerian Union of Journalists’ election to influence the outcome.
This claim was described by Ajakaye as fake news and untrue.
Hence, the police invited Dare and his brother for allegedly inciting disturbance, spreading injurious falsehood and being responsible for criminal defamation, after receiving a petition from Ajakaye.
However, after Dare and his brother honoured the invitation, the police failed to release them and detained them without a justifiable cause.
However, the government on Wednesday told the trial court that they would be withdrawing the case at the resumed hearing at an Ilorin Magistrates’ Court.
During the proceedings, the government prosecutor, Busari Olorundare, requested that the case should be dismissed without giving any proper justification.
The request was granted by Magistrate Bio Salihu, who presided over the case. The judge dismissed all charges against the defendants and closed the case.
The court was unable to convene on the last adjourned date of November 23, 2022, because the state judiciary was mourning the untimely death of two prominent members of the bar and the bench, the late Vice-Chancellor of Kwara State University, Professor Mohammed Akanbi, SAN, and the late Honourable Justice Titi Daibu.