Judge Reviews Binniyat’s Stringent Bail Conditions
BY AMOS TAUNA, KADUNA – After spending about 93 days in prison, the former Kaduna Bureau Chief of Vanguard Newspapers, Luka Binniyat on Monday got a ray of hope for freedom as his stringent bail conditions were reviewed by Justice Bashir Sukola of Kaduna High Court.
Prior to relaxing the conditions, Sukola had taken a 15-minute break where he advised both prosecution team, led by Abdulhakeem Mustapha, (SAN), and defence team, Elisha Yakubu Kurah (SAN) to privately discuss the bail conditions and report back to the court.
At the Court’s resumed sitting, it was thereafter decided that bail be granted the accused with three sureties upon presentation of bank statements of not less than N10 million credit each.
In addition, Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Kaduna State Council, is expected to stand as a surety for the accused, a condition considered fair, compared to the initial bail bond of two sureties within the jurisdiction of the court, with bank accounts not less than N10m each as well as the originals of their international passports attached and deposited with the court.
Many journalists from within and outside Kaduna State were in Court in solidarity with the defence team. Notable in the group that thronged the hallowed court room, were President of NUJ, Comrade Waheed Odusile, NUJ National Secretary, Shuaibu Leman, Vice President North West, Comrade Yusuf Idris, Editor-in-Chief and Executive Editor of Forefront Magazine, Musa Simon Reef and Amos Dunia, Kaduna NUJ Council Chairman, Comrade Adamu Yusuf, Council’s Secretary, Dauda Doka, NUJ FCT Council Secretary, Hajia Rafat Idris and human rights activist, Dr John Danfulani among others.
The Kaduna State government had dragged Binniyat to court on two-count charges over a publication in the Vanguard Newspapers of 24th January, 2017 on the alleged killings of five students in College of Education, Gidan-Waya, Southern Kaduna
According to the charge sheet, the journalist is being arraigned for breach of public peace and injurious falsehood punishable under sections 114 and 393 of the penal code laws of Kaduna State