The federal government has initiated the trial of a blogger, Victor Ibezim, who accused the former Works and Housing Minister, Babatunde Fashola, alleging that he authored the judgments of the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) that dismissed the Labour Party (LP) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)’s petitions.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the PEPC, which dismissed the petitions of Peter Obi of LP and Atiku Abubakar of PDP, affirmed President Bola Tinubu’s election victory.
Mr. Ibezim, one of the three persons linked to the publications, was arraigned before Justice Bolaji Olajuwon of a Federal High Court in Abuja on a six-count charge.
The amended charge, filed on 18 October 2023 by the Inspector-General (I-G) of Police and marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/434/2023 and dated 17 October 2023, includes charges of criminal conspiracy, cyberstalking, and defamation against Mr. Ibezim as the sole defendant.
Justice Olajuwon scheduled the continuation of the trial for 15 April.
In the charge, Mr. Ibezim, along with Jackson Udeh, Nnamdi Emmanuel Ibezim, and Reportera.ng (now at large), were accused of committing the offence on or about 5 August 2023 in Abuja.
They allegedly conspired to publish defamatory statements and false allegations against Babatunde Raji Fashola SAN, CON, on their online platform, reportera.ng news, without justification.
The offence is punishable under Section 27(1)(b) of the Cybercrime Prohibition, Prevention Act 2015, among other counts
