\n
The Nigerian police have released Audu Maikori, the CEO of Chocolate City Entertainment, roughly 24 hours after he was arrested, his lawyer said\u00a0Saturday.<\/p>\n
Mark Jacobs, who had been with Mr Maikori as legal counsel since\u00a0he was picked up Saturday, told PREMIUM TIMES his client was released around\u00a06:30 p.m.\u00a0Sunday after providing a surety.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019d just been released,\u201d Mr Jacobs said, adding that he will return to the Force Headquarters\u00a0on Monday\u00a0for further investigation.<\/p>\n
Mr Maikori was arrested in\u00a0Lagos around\u00a0noon\u00a0Friday\u00a0by a team of policemen attached to inspector-general monitoring and intelligence team and was immediately transferred to the Force Headquarters in Abuja.<\/p>\n
Mr Jacobs said the arrest was in connection with\u00a0a series of tweets posted by Mr. Maikori\u00a0about four weeks ago in which he alleged the killing of some Southern Kaduna residents by Fulani herdsmen.<\/p>\n
But details of the tweets, which Mr Maikori said were obtained from his driver, turned out to be false, earning him a vicious social media backlash.<\/p>\n
Mr\u00a0Maikori later\u00a0retracted and apologised for the false information. A magistrate in Kaduna issued a warrant for his arrest, his lawyer said.<\/p>\n
Force public relations officer, Jimoh Moshood, told PREMIUM TIMES Saturday evening the officers in charge would intensify investigation to ensure Mr Maikori\u2019s prompt arraignment in court.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s in our custody where we\u2019re investigating all the allegations against him,\u201d Mr, Moshood told PREMIUM TIMES by telephone. \u201cHe will be charged to court promptly.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked about the chances of taking the music label executive to court\u00a0on Monday, the police said they were unsure.<\/p>\n
Mr Moshood could not say when the investigations would be concluded to pave way for Mr. Maikori\u2019s arraignment.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know investigation is a scientific approach \u2014to actually tell the court that \u2018this is the person that committed so, so and so offence\u2019. So there\u2019s no timeline for conclusion of investigation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
On why Mr. Maikori was arrested in Lagos and transferred to Force Headquarters in Abuja when his alleged crimes were against the people and government of Kaduna State, the police said they have unlimited jurisdiction across Nigeria.<\/p>\n
The arrest sparked nationwide outrage between\u00a0Friday\u00a0night and\u00a0Saturday, and\u00a0Nigerians expressed disparate opinions\u00a0in a debate over the matter.<\/p>\n
A former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili, disclosed on Twitter she had contacts with the Kaduna State Government to resolve the matter and get Mr. Maikori out of detention.<\/p>\n
Ms. Ezekwesili, an avid social media user, said she told Governor Nasir el-Rufai in\u00a0a discussion\u00a0Saturday\u00a0to consider clemency for Mr. Maikori. But that the governor complained about the negative impact Mr. Maikori\u2019s false information had on the\u00a0deadly attacks in the state.<\/p>\n
\u201cI asked the @GovKaduna to consider @Audu \u2018s apology and his unfortunate arrest as a TEACHABLE MOMENT for both the Government & everyone.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the end of our discussion, @GovKaduna agreed to ACT and FREE @Audu quickly and end this unfortunate development. WILL WATCH OUT FOR IT,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
How much impact the former World Bank executive\u2019s intervention had on the release of Mr. Maikori was not immediately clear and the police said they were not privy to any outside negotiation. They also maintained such negotiation may not necessarily affect their activities as law enforcement authorities.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not aware of any discussion. It has nothing to do with our investigation. You can\u2019t join the police and the governor,\u201d Mr. Moshood said.<\/p>\n
Shortly before his release,\u00a0Mr. Maikori told PREMIUM TIMES he could not wait to have his day in court.<\/p>\n
\u201cReally, for me, I am just waiting for\u00a0Monday\u00a0so that we can go to court,\u201d he said when asked being pardoned by the Kaduna government. \u201cI want the law to take its full course.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI am a lawyer and I understand that justice must not only be done; it must also be seen to be done. So let the law take its full course.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. Jacobs told this newspaper his client was released on bail after providing a surety. The police also said he must return to the Force Headquarters by\u00a0Monday\u00a0morning, but it remained unclear if he would be arraigned then.<\/p>\n
Over 200 have been killed and thousands more displaced in the latest violence between Fulani herdsmen and southern Kaduna residents.<\/p>\n
A curfew Mr. el-Rufai imposed in Zangon Kataf was relaxed\u00a0last week.\u200e<\/p>\n
Mr. El-Rufai said the attackers were herdsmen from neighbouring countries who had returned to avenge attacks on their relatives and livestock back in 2011.<\/p>\n
The governor came under fire after admitting he had sent payments to the attackers to compensate for their losses, as part of efforts by his government to end the bloodshed.<\/p>\n
A foundation laid by the Nigerian Army for the construction of a military base in the area was\u00a0destroyed last week.<\/p>\n
Ms Ezekwesili said the governor told her the arrest of Mr Maikori will serve as a strong deterrence to other would-be merchants of inaccurate information, especially on the ongoing crisis in Southern Kaduna.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Nigerian police have released Audu Maikori, the CEO of Chocolate City Entertainment, roughly 24 hours after he was arrested, his lawyer said\u00a0Saturday. Mark Jacobs, who had been with Mr Maikori as legal counsel since\u00a0he was picked up Saturday, told PREMIUM TIMES his client was released around\u00a06:30 p.m.\u00a0Sunday after providing a surety. \u201cHe\u2019d just been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-357260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-business"],"yoast_head":"\n
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Mark Jacobs, who had been with Mr Maikori as legal counsel since\u00a0he was picked up Saturday, told PREMIUM TIMES his client was released around\u00a06:30 p.m.\u00a0Sunday after providing a surety. \u201cHe\u2019d just been […]","twitter_creator":"@ghanamma","twitter_site":"@ghanamma","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/05\/04\/police-release-chocolate-city-boss-audu-maikori\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/05\/04\/police-release-chocolate-city-boss-audu-maikori\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Police release Chocolate City boss, Audu Maikori","datePublished":"2017-05-04T05:30:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/05\/04\/police-release-chocolate-city-boss-audu-maikori\/"},"wordCount":846,"commentCount":0,"articleSection":["Business"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/05\/04\/police-release-chocolate-city-boss-audu-maikori\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/05\/04\/police-release-chocolate-city-boss-audu-maikori\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/05\/04\/police-release-chocolate-city-boss-audu-maikori\/","name":"Police release Chocolate City boss, Audu Maikori - Ghanamma.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-05-04T05:30:00+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/05\/04\/police-release-chocolate-city-boss-audu-maikori\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/","name":"Ghanamma.com","description":"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=357260"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357260\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=357260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=357260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=357260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}