By Pascal Ibe

Introduction 

Murder is one of the most heinous crimes under Nigerian law because it involves the unlawful and intentional killing of another person.

The offence of murder is primarily governed by the Criminal Code Act, which applies in the southern states of Nigeria, and the Penal Code, which applies in most northern states. Under Section 316 of the Criminal Code.

Claim

An X user, @Dee_9889 (Blessed), made a post which suggested that a lawyer and activist, Deji Adeyanju, was jailed for murder years ago.

In the post on 27 July, Blessed’s post implied that Adeyanju was jailed for murder.

The post reads, “So Deji went to jail before? 😳😳For a MURDER CASE? And you see the! idiot insulting Peter Obi.

“I talk am say na people with criminal records they always like go after Peter Obi.”

The X user did not directly assert that the lawyer was jailed. But by his question, further comments and two screenshots of publications regarding the case which were attached to the post, the post suggested that the X user implied that Adeyanju was jailed.

Also, the few comments under the post indicated that he made the claim.

Adeyanju, who is also a social media influencer, has been a strong critic of the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, Peter Obi. 

This has made Obi supporters always return the energy.

Verifying the claim

The police had arrested Adeyanju in December 2018, accusing him of being complicit in a murder case from the 2000s.

After a review of the case, Adeyanju was discharged and acquitted by the Kano State High Court following a lengthy trial that lasted between 2005 and 2009.

After his arrest in 2018, the police in Abuja held Adeyanju in detention without charges for five days before moving him to Kano, Premium Times reported.

The police, nonetheless, filed murder charges against Adeyanju using the same material that had been dismissed by the court in 2009.

Later,  a Chief Magistrate’s Court in Kano remanded Deji Adeyanju in prison until February 2019, after taking his plea and concluding that it lacked jurisdiction to hear murder charges against the political activist.

Check out this story here and here.

Being JAILED means serving a sentence after being found guilty, while being REMANDED means being held in custody before a trial while still presumed innocent.

He was granted bail in February 2019, but his release was stalled for several weeks despite meeting conditions, amidst allegations that the court registrar absconded.

The trial went on with Adeyanju insisting he was being victimised for his criticism of the Late President Muhammadu Buhari administration.

However, the Kano State High Court in November 2019,  again discharged and acquitted Adeyanju of murder charges.

Rabiu Sadiq, the presiding judge, ruled that the case contained the same grounds for which Mr Adeyanju was discharged and acquitted in 2009.

Adeyanju’s re-arraignment by the police “amounts to double trial,” the judge held.

Check this story here and here.

Verdict

The post by the X user, suggesting that Adeyanju was jailed for a murder case, is FALSE.

He was first discharged and acquitted in 2009. But the police filed another similar case in 2018 and the case also ended in his favour in 2019.