Mubarak Isa Muhammad and Nazifi Muhammad Bala were sentenced to public flogging by a Kano State Magistrate Court presided over by Aminu Muhammad Gabari for defaming Kano State Governor Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje on Tiktok.
The pair, who face 20 lashes each, were also ordered to sweep the court grounds and keep the restrooms clean for 30 days.
They were sentenced after pleading guilty to a two-count charge of defamation and inciting public disorder.
Muhammad and Bala allegedly made snide remarks about the governor in Tiktok videos, claiming that the governor “does not see a land without selling it” and “sleeps a lot.”
The prosecutor from the Kano State Ministry of Justice, Barrister Wada Ahmad Wada, had requested a summary trial against the duo, and at the hearing on Monday, trial magistrate Gabari ordered the respondents to pay a N10,000 fine each for defaming the character of the Kano State Governor and another N10,000 for inciting public disturbance.
Gabari similarly imposed non-custodial sentences on the convicts, namely public flogging and sanitation service at the Justice Aloma Mukthar Court Complex in Kano City’s No-Man’s-Land area. He also directed that they post a video apology to Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje on social media.