By joshua Saraki to be arraigned on July 22 over defamation against Kwara Gov.
A former Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, could be arraigned on July 22, 2026, over an alleged defamation against the current Governor of Kwara State, Abdulrahman Abdulrasaq, according to court proceedings on Friday.
Saraki, who is a former Governor of Kwara State was dragged before an Ilorin High Court presided over by Justice M.O. Folorunsho.
The charge suit No: KWS/151c/226 between the People of Kwara State and Saraki, on Count one read: “That you DR. ABUBAKAR BUKOLA SARAKI, on or about 17th April, 2026 at llorin, Kwara State, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable court, committed an illegal act, to wit; you published and shared statements on social media platforms, particularly on Face book at
https://www.facebook.com/bukola.saraki, X (formerly known as Twitter) at https://x.com/bukolasaraki/status/204511455985427 555?=46 and national newspapers containing insulting, derogatory and abusive languages that the Governor of Kwara State, His Excellency, Mallam AbdulRahtnan AbdulRazaq is not educated up to secondary school education, which you knew or ought to have known to be false, but you intentionally published the said statements in a manner to insult or provoke the Governor of Kwara State, His Excellency, Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq and the Kwara State Government, which you did in a manner likely to cause bre~_k~-own of public peace and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 399 of the Penal Code, CAP. P4, Laws of Kwara State, 2006.
Saraki’s counsel, J.A. Mumini (SAN) was absent in court but sent a lawyer T.A. Hammed from his office while the complainants were represented by R.O. Balogun (SAN) Taiye Oniyide (SAN) and Director Public Prosecutions, Ayoola Idown Akande. Balogun led the prosecution team
Inspite of Mumini’s absence, the court held that the matter should go on.
On the preliminary objections, the Court held that the depositions contained in the defendant’s supporting affidavit and further affidavit did not constitute legal arguments or written submissions as contended by the prosecution and therefore dismissed the objection.
On the competence of the defendant’s further affidavit, the court held that although the defendant did not first seek leave before filing the further affidavit together with his Reply on Points of Law, the Prosecution ought to have raised and argued the objection before or at the time of adoption. Having failed to do so, the Prosecution was deemed to have waived its right to object, and its subsequent complaint amounted to an attempt to spring a surprise on the Defendant, which the law does not permit.
On service of the charge, the Court found that the record showed that the Chief Bailiff of the Kwara State Judiciary, Mr. Femi Ogunleye, initially attempted personal service on the Defendant. The Defendant subsequently acknowledged awareness of the charge through his Counsel’s request for Certified True Copies of the Charge Sheet and Proof of Evidence.
Thereafter, upon the Prosecution’s inability to effect personal service, leave was obtained to serve the Defendant by substituted means, which the Defendant himself admitted in paragraph 5 of his supporting affidavit. Consequently, the Court held that the Defendant was duly served in compliance with sections 129, 130 and 131 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law of Kwara State, 2018.
On the applicability of the Cybercrimes Act, the Court held that the charge against the Defendant did not fall within the scope of offences contemplated under section 40 of the Cybercrimes Act, having regard to the interpretation of the provision and relevant judicial authorities. The Court particularly noted that the allegedly defamatory publications were made not only on Twitter and Facebook but were also published in national newspapers.
On territorial jurisdiction, the Court held that it possessed the requisite territorial jurisdiction.to entertain the charge notwithstanding that part of the alleged publication was made online. The Court reasoned that the complainant and the persons allegedly affected by the publication resided within the territorial jurisdiction of the Court and relied on the decision in C.R.C. v. Stanbic IBTC in reaching its conclusion.
On the allegation of abuse of court process, the Court held that the Defendant failed to establish how the mere filing of a criminal charge against him constituted an abuse of court process. The allegation was therefore dismissed for want of proof.
On the alleged violation of the defendant’s constitutional right to freedom of expression, the court held that the protection afforded under section 39 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) does not extend to defamatory publications capable of injuring the reputation of another person. Accordingly, the defendant could not rely on the constitutional guarantee of freedom of expression as a defence.
On the validity of the charge, the Court held that the charge complied with section 36(12) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended). The Court further rejected the Defendant’s contention that the charge disclosed no prima facie case because it allegedly failed to plead facts showing that the publication was capable of causing a breach of the peace as contemplated under section 399 of the Penal Code.
On the allegation of denial of fair hearing, the Court dismissed the Defendant’s contention that he would not receive a fair trial because the Governor of Kwara State would allegedly prevent him from effectively cross-examining prosecution witnesses. The court observed that the Governor was not listed as a prosecution witness and reiterated that the burden of proving the criminal allegations rests solely on the Prosecution.
On the defendant’s physical presence, the Court held that it was competent to dispense with the defendant’s physical appearance for the purpose of hearing and determining the preliminary objection, the application being interlocutory in nature.
On the necessity of determining the objection first, the Court held that the defendant’s objections, which challenged the competence of the proceedings on grounds of improper service, lack of territorial jurisdiction and other jurisdictional issues, were fundamental issues that ought to be resolved before the substantive hearing of the charge.
Consequently, having resolved all the issues raised against the defendant, the court found no merit in the preliminary objection and accordingly dismissed the defendant’s objection in its entirety, directing that the criminal proceedings should proceed on the merits. It adjourned the case to 22 nd day of July 2026 for arraignment.
More documents:
PROOF OF EVIDENCE
LIST OF EXHIBITS
1. CTC WAEC SCHOOL CERTIFICATE, JUNE, 1976
2. CTC OF WAEC RESULT COMPUTER PRINTOUT
3. GOVERNMENT COLLEGE, KADUNA SCHOOL TESTIMONIAL
4. COPY OF FACEBOOK POST OF DR. ABUBAKAR BUKOLA SARAKI
5. COURT PROCESSES/ JUDGMENTS
LIST OF WITNESSES
1. OLA YINKA FAFOLUYI – GOVERNMENT HOUSE, GRA, ILORIN, KW ARA STATE
2. INSPR. EZEKIEL ALUYA – MONITORING UNIT, NIGERIA POLICE HQTRS., !LORIN
3. INSPR. BLESSING ABAH – MONITORING UNIT, NIGERIA POLICE HQTRS., ILORIN
4. SUBPOENAED WITNESS – WEST AFRICAN EXAMINATION COUNCIL, LAGOS
5. SUBPOENAED WITNESS – GOVERNMENT COLLEGE MANAGEMENT BOARD, KADUNA
BRIEF STATEMENT OF THE PROSECUTION:
1. OLAYINKA FAFOLUYI: To state as follows – That I am the Senior Special Assistant
to the Governor of Kwara State on New Media and my duties include but not
limited to management of public image, social media relations,
communication strategies of the government on digital platforms. The
defendant and some of his allies are to face trial for their alleged culpabilities
in the deadliest armed robbery attack in the history of Kwara State in which
over thirty (30) people including serving police officers lost their lives and about
five (5) commercial banks were robbed at Otta, Kwara State. It is as a result of
the above that the def end ant on the 17th April, 2026 made a post on his
Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/bukola.saraki, various social
media platforms and paid newspapers advert wherein he was inciting the •
public against the State Government 6nd mangling the person of His
Excellency, Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq. It is worrisome to note that Dr.
Saraki in bad faith stated in his aforementioned social media post as follows:-
“This is a mere act of a desperate politician who is losing control in his party and
knows that his days in governance are numbered. It is the reason why Nigerians
should always take into consideration the level of education of those we elect into office. For a man who never completed secondary school education, it is
difficult for him to appreciate the Issues Involved In any matter. His level of education is definitely affecting his judgment.” That the defendant knew or
ought to have known that for a person to qualify for election into the office of a Governor of a State, he should be educated up to Secondary School
education and the defendant also knows that His Excellency, Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, the Governor of Kwara State is educated up to secondary school education because it was one of the failed grounds raised by his party and other petitioners at 1he Governorship Election Petition Tribunal
2 in 2019 and several other litigations. That it is a settled fact that His Excellency, Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, the Governor of Kwara State is educated
up to secondary school education within the knowledge of Saraki but he
intentionally made this spurious comment or hate speech against the Governor and Kwara State Government in order to cause constitutional crisis in a manner to incite the public against Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq and the Kwara State Government, and it is likely to cause breakdown of public peace and it has raised tension within the public space both online and within the towns and villages in Kwara State. That I have seen the WAEC school certificate of Mallam AbdulRazaq AbdulRahman and I can attest to the fact that he graduated from Government College, Kaduna in June, 197 6 and upon certification that he completed secondary school education he was issued with a testimonial which
I also sighted.
2. INSPR. ALUYIA EZEKIEL: To state as follows:- That I am an Investigating Police
Officer serving at the Monitoring Unit, Police Headquarters llorin. That one
Fafoluyi Olayinka Michael petitioned the Commissioner of Police, Kwara State
Command against the defendant for a case of inciting disturbance of public peace and injurious falsehood and referred to our Unit for discreet investigation. That after the petition was received, we invited the petitioner to adopt his petition and interviewed him. The petitioner provided relevant documents including copy of the Facebook post of Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki at https://www.facebook.com/bukola.saraki I confirmed that the defendant truly made a Facebook post on the 17th April, 2026 which has gone viral and also published in various newspapers and news outlets. That police investigation reveals that the defendant referred to the Governor of Kwara
State, Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazag As 11 a man who never completed secondary school education”. Police investigation through certified copies of documents provided by the petitioner evidenced that the Governor of Kwara State, Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq sat for WAEC examination in June, 1976 and a School Certificate and computer printout of the result were issued
by W AEC. That it is also established through documents provided that the Kaduna State Ministry of Education, Government College Management Board,
Kaduna issued a senior secondary school testimonial. That the defendant was called by my 0/c through phone but there was no response and police
invitation letter was issued to invite the defendant for investigation but all efforts to get him proved abortive because our team went to the defendant’s known
addresses within GRA, llorin to serve the invitation letter but failed. I also called
the defendant’s phone numbers provided and sent invitation message to the
defendant’s WhatsApp number which was delivered but there is no response.
I am to state the roles that I played in the course of investigation.
3. INSPR. BLESSING ABAH: To state as follows:- That I am an Investigating Police
Officer serving at the Monitoring Unit, Police Headquarters llorin. That one
3
•
Fafoluyi Olayinka Michael petitioned the Commissioner of Police, Kwara State
Command against the defendant for a case of inciting disturbance of public
peace and injurious falsehood and referred to our Unit for discreet
investigation. That after the petition was received, we invited the petitioner to
adopt his petition and interviewed him. The petitioner provided relevant
documents including copy of the Facebook post of Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki
at https://www.facebook.com/bukola.saraki I confirmed that the defendant
truly made a Facebook post on the 17th April, 2026 which has gone viral and
also published in various newspapers and news outlets. That police
investigation revealed that the defendant referred to the Governor of Kwara
State, Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq as “a man who never completed
secondary school education”. Police investigation through certified copies of
documents provided by the petitioner evidenced that the Governor of Kwara
State, Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq sat for W AEC examination in June,
197 6 and a School Certificate and computer printout of the result were issued
by WAEC. That it is also established through documents provided that the
Kaduna State Ministry of Education, Government College Management Board,
Kaduna issued a senior secondary school testimonial. That the defendant was
called by my O/c through phone but there was no response and police
invitation letter was issued to invite the defendant for investigation but all efforts
to get him proved abortive because our team went to the defendant’s known
addresses withi_n GRA, llorin to serve the invitation letter but failed. I also called
the defendant’s phone numbers provided and sent invitation message to the
defendant’s WhatsApp number which was delivered but there is no response.
I am to state the roles that I played in the course of investigation.
4. SUBPOENAED WITNESS: To state as follows:- That I am a staff of the West African
Examination Council, I am to tender the West African Examination Council
School Certificate and the computer printout of the result of the candidate
who sat for W AEC in June, 197 6. I am to tender documents and state all the
relevant facts in the course of the trial.
s. SUBPOENAED WITNESS: To state as follows:- That I am a staff of the Kaduna State
Ministry of Education, Government College Management Board, Kaduna. I am
to give evidence on the studentship of a candidate who started and
completed his secondary education at Government College, Kaduna and
tender all the necessary documents in accordance with the school records
including his testimonial.
DATED THIS 4TH DAY OF MAY, 2026.
SENIOR IBRA IM SULYMAN ESQ.
ATTORNEY GENERAL OF KWARA STATE
MINISTRY OF JUSTICE
AH MADU BELLO WAY
GRA-ILORIN
KWARA STATE