An Abuja Chief magistrate court Friday remanded, a social media influencer, Ghali Isma’il. His offence: posting online videos purporting the death of President Bola Tinubu because of a serious illness. Court
Operatives of the Department of State Services, DSS, arrested Isma’il days after he posted the fake videos on the TikTok handle @bola_asiwaju.
He was slammed with a two-count charge. Count one entitled “Publication of false news with intent to cause offence against public peace”, read: “That you, Ghali Ismail,male, twenty-nine (29) years of Jogana village, Gezawa LGA, Kano State, on or about the 20th Day of July, 2025 and within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, did publish false information by uploading a video clip on your verified Tiktok handle (“bola-asiwaju”) wherein you falsely claimed that you reliably confirmed from official sources that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was critically ill, having been poisoned through his meal, with intent to cause public alarm and disturb public peace.
“You thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 418 of the Penal Code Act, Cap P3, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.”
Count two, “Inciting Disaffection to the Government”, read: “That you, Ghali Ismail, male, twenty-nine (29) years of Jogana village, Gezawa LGA, Kano State, on or about the 20th Day of July, 2025 and within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, did publish false information by uploading a video clip on your verified Tiktok handle (“bola-asiwaju”) wherein you falsely claimed that you reliably confirmed from official sources that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was critically ill, having been poisoned through his meal, with intent to bring contempt or incite feelings of disaffection against the person of the President. You thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 416 of the Penal Code Act, Cap P3, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.”
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After taking arguments by counsel to the DSS and counsel to the defendant, whose application for bail was denied, the presiding judge, Ekpeyong Iyang ordered Ismail to be remanded at the Kuje Correctional Centre. The matter was adjourned till August 19.
Isma’il’s arraignment came a few days after a professor of journalism at Kennesaw State University in the United States, Farooq Kperogi apologized for publishing a report that late President Muhammadu Buhari and his wife, Aisha, were divorced at the time of his death.
It would be recalled that Biafran agitator, Simon Ekpa, is currently being prosecuted by Finnish authorities for terrorism, though Ekpa insists that his incendiary posts online were merely to create “content.”
Last week in Abuja, another Biafran separatist leader, Nnamdi Kanu told a federal high court that his online broadcasts which prosecutors said led to the death of hundreds of persons, was a joke.
In Finland, prosecutors, who are demanding a six-year prison sentence for Ekpa. Reason: his separatist activities, conducted online and coordinated from Finland, may constitute terrorism under Finnish law.
