Court Refuses Bail To Kano Men Who Killed 74 Year Old Woman Over Alleged Blasphemy

A Kano State Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday denied bail to the five men who allegedly killed 74-year-old Bridget Agbahime in Kano on June 2.Agbahime was beaten to death over alleged

blasphemy by a rabid mob led by Dauda Ahmed, who she had an altercation with, at Kofar Wambai Market, Kano.The accused persons: Dauda Ahmed, Abdulmumeen Mustafa, Zubairu Abubakar,
Abdullahi Abubakar and Musa Abdullahi, were charged with inciting, disturbance, culpable homicide, joint act and mischief.The presiding judge, Chief Magistrate Muhammad Jibril, in his ruling said the court, under Section 361 of the 1999 Constitution as amended, had the discretion to hear the bail application.But Jibril said the court has no power to grant the accused persons bail.He said: “Though, no material evidence to give the court, first information report is simply information.“It shows the jurisdiction of a court to admit an accused person to bail only when there is no evidence to prove the accused person committed an offence.”Jibril said the court had no power to grant the five suspects bail, though the court is convinced that investigation had been completed in the case diary sent to the State Ministry of Justice for legal advice.Jibril, therefore, ordered the five suspects to be remanded in prison custody and adjourned the case to August 18 for further mention.However, Gambo Abdulsalam, the Defence Counsel for all the suspects, told the court that he would forward the bail application ruling to the High Court, Kano.Abdulsalam said this was to enable him seek for their bail, since the court has the right to grant them bail.Earlier, Prosecutor Ekwe Sunday had opposed the bail application in view of the gravity of the offence.Sunday said the suspects committed a capital offence in nature.The prosecutor, therefore, urged the court not to grant the suspects bail because of the sensitive nature of the case