A court in Katsina State on Tuesday sentenced a 70-year-old man, Lawal Izala, to 18 months imprisonment for allegedly insulting President Muhammadu Buhari..
Izala was arrested last week for allegedly insulting President Muhammadu Buhari and the State Governor Aminu Masari.
The septuagenarian and two others were arraigned for inciting disobedience to civil authorities and disrespect to authorities through demeaning utterances.
In an interview with reporters after the judgement, Izala said he spoke out of anger when he visited his village and found out that bandits had killed his family members and rustled 15 of his cows.
“I spoke out of anger after bandits had killed my family, rustled 15 cows,” he said.
Delivering judgement on the matter, the court found Izala guilty of two count charges of inciting violence and disrespect for civil authorities.
He was sentenced to six months jail term for the first charge and one year for the other charge.
Izala was however, given the option of ₦10,000 fine for the first charge and N20,000 for the second offence.
Already, some “kind-hearted” people in the State paid the N30,000 fine and the 70-year-old has been released.
