A Chief Magistrate Court in Kaduna State has ordered the remand of Shehu Mahdi, a public affairs and political commentator, in a correctional facility.
Operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) arrested Madhi in Kaduna over the weekend after he posted inciting content, including a video online claiming that President Bola Tinubu granted France the approval to set up a military base in northern Nigeria.
He later deleted the video The now-deleted post was uploaded on December 14 and accompanied by a video of a Nigerian Army officer speaking Hausa while the background showed a foreign soldier.
Nuhu Ribadu, the National Security Adviser (NSA), and Mohammed Idris, Minister of Information and National Orientation, have since debunked the claims as baseless.
Findings have revealed that the claim that the French military has been deployed in Maiduguri, Borno state capital, to establish a military base in Nigeria is false.
At the court session on Tuesday, the DSS arraigned Mahdi before Abubakar Lamido, the presiding magistrate, on a two-count charge of conspiracy, aiding, and abetting terrorism.
The offences are said to be contrary to section 26(2)(3) of the Terrorism (Prevention & Prohibition) Act, 2022, and inciting public disturbances is contrary to section 78 of the Penal Code Law of Kaduna state, 2017.
“In his ruling, Magistrate Lamido held that Mahdi remains in a correctional facility in Kaduna until January 14, 2025, for further hearing on the matter,” a statement by DSS said.
