An Abuja-based businessman, Ibrahim Garba, has been arraigned before the Chief Magistrates’ Court, Wuse, for alleged criminal defamation of one Shehu Abdullahi, a businessman in the same premises.
Garba, a car dealer, was said to have intentionally and spitefully given the Police false information about a car that was stolen while standing.
The prosecution counsel, Simeon Wujat, informed the court that the complainant, Shehu Abdullahi of the same address, brought the matter to the court on June 24, 2026.
The prosecutor said that on June 17, 2026, the complainant came into his business premises and parked his Honda Civic car in front of his business space.
Wujat said that on that same day at about 8:04 pm the complainant was surprised when he saw a team of well-armed and fiercely looking police officers with a road safety towing van, attempting to tow his car.
The counsel said that upon making a peaceful inquiry, the complainant was told by the team leader of the squad that the defendant had reported to the police that the car was a stolen vehicle.
The prosecutor said that his client was embarrassed and was made to write a statement in respect of his own car, which was maliciously reported and declared by the defendant as a stolen vehicle.
Wujat informed the court that the complainant provided a certified true copy of the said vehicle at the police station on June 17 with the copy of his proof of ownership and registration particulars.
The prosecution told the court that upon careful investigation by the Police, it was found that the defendant intentionally and spitefully gave the Police false information about the car.
According to him, the act inevitably distracted, maligned and defamed the complainant’s good reputation, within and outside his business.
He alleged that the defendant’s malicious and false information, which he gave to the Police against the complainant and his car, had portrayed him as a car thief.
Wujat explained that the act also portrayed his client as a criminal, thereby tarnishing his unassailable good reputation and goodwill.
The prosecutor said the offence was contrary to sections 391 and punishable under section 392 of the Penal Code Act 9060.
The defendant, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge when it was read to him.
The defendant’s counsel, Hamza Dantani, applied for bail for the defendant, citing sections 158 and 162 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), saying bail is at the discretion of the court.
Ruling on the application of the defendant, Magistrate Faridah Ibrahim granted the defendant bail in the sum of N3 million, in like sum with a surety.
She ordered that the surety, in couple with that to the defendant, submit his call to bar certificate and an undertaking to provide the defendant whenever he is needed in court.
She also said that the counsel to the defendant will be made to face the disciplinary committee should he fail to produce the defendant and adjourned the matter to August 10th, 2026.