Kaduna State High Court has again adjourned to June 27, 2018 the trial of Luka Binniyat, a journalist based in Kaduna, who has been charged with malicious falsehood and public disturbance after being detained for 98 days.
Luka Binniyat, the former Kaduna Bureau Chief of Vanguard Newspaper, was arrested and detained for 96 days in 2017 by the Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, on allegations of malicious falsehood and public disturbance.
The case was initially handled by Justice Bashir Sokula, who died a few days after granting bail to the accused journalist and it was reassigned to Justice Mairo Mohammed in January.
At the mention of case in court before Justice Mohammed, Mark Jacobs who announced his appearance for Luka Binniyat, drew the attention of the court to the motion he filed on May 22 challenging the Court’s jurisdiction to hear the case.
He argued that prosecution counsel has been served and, therefore, prayed the court to quash the suit. The prosecution counsel, however, opposed and insisted that the Luka be tried based on the suit before the court.
The prosecution counsel further prayed the court to allow the charge brought against the Luka to be read and a pleading obtained. He also stated that the motion on notice filed by the defence counsel did not invalidate the existing suit before the court.
In addition, he prayed the court to allow him to file a motion to amend the charges brought against Mr. Binniyat.
Justice Mohammed rejected prosecution counsel’s prayer on the motion to amend the charge brought against the Luka on the ground that the case is not properly before the court as there is no charge present before the court.
The judge thereafter adjourned the case for commencement of trial.
