An Abuja Chief Magistrates Court, Friday, ordered the remand at the Keffi Correctional Centre a social media influencer, Ghali Isma’il, who posted online videos purporting that President Bola Tinubu died as a result of a serous illness.
Operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) arrested Isma’il days after he posted the fake videos on the TikTok handle @bola_asiwaju.
Count one of the two-count charge titled: “Publication of false news with intent to cause offence against public peace,” read: “That you, Ghali Ismail, Male, twenty-nine (29) years of Jogana village, Gezawa LGA, Kano State, on or about the 20th Day of July, 2025 and within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, did publish false information by uploading a video clip on your verified Tiktok handle (“bola-asiwaju”) wherein you falsely claimed that you reliably confirmed from official sources that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was critically ill, having been poisoned through his meal, with intent to cause public alarm and disturb public peace.
“You thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 418 of the Penal Code Act, Cap P3, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.
Count two, “Inciting Disaffection to the Government,” read: “That you, Ghali Ismail, Male, twenty-nine (29) years, of Jogana village, Gezawa LGA, Kano State, on or about the 20th Day of July, 2025 and within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, did publish false information by uploading a video clip on your verified Tiktok handle (“bola-asiwaju”) wherein you falsely claimed that you reliably confirmed from official sources that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was critically ill, having been poisoned through his meal, with intent to bring contempt or incite feelings of disaffection against the person of the President.
“You thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 416 of the Penal Code Act, Cap P3, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.”
Blueprint reports that after taking arguments by both counsels to the DSS and that of the defendant, whose application for bail was denied, the presiding judge, Ekpeyong Iyang, ordered Isma’il to be remanded in Keffi Correctional Centre.
The matter was adjourned until August 19.
Isma’il’s arraignment came amidst growing trend of misinformation; notably, a few days after a Professor of Journalism at Kennesaw State University in the United States, Farooq Kperogi, apologised for publishing a false report that late President Muhammadu Buhari and his wife, Aisha, were divorced at the time of his death.
This is as Biafrian agitator Simon Ekpa is being prosecuted by Finnish authorities for terrorism, who insists his icentary posts online were merely to create “content.”
In Finland, prosecutors, who are demanding a six-year prison sentence for Ekpa over his separatist activities conducted online and coordinated from Finland, which constitute terrorism under Finnish law.
Also, last week in Abuja, IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu told a Federal High Court in Abuja that his online broadcasts, which prosecutors said lead to the deaths of hundreds of persons, was a joke.