Journalist and public affairs commentator Muhammad Mahdi Shehu has announced his acquittal by a Federal High Court sitting in Kano, sharing the outcome in a post on his verified X account on Monday.
According to the post, the court on January 19, 2026, upheld a no-case submission and discharged and acquitted Shehu and his company, Dialogue Global Links Limited, of all six criminal charges brought against them.
Shehu stated that the charges, instituted in 2021 by the Office of the Inspector-General of Police on behalf of the Katsina State Government, were based on alleged cybercrime, defamation, peddling of fake documents, and dissemination of false information said to have brought disrepute to Katsina State officials.
He noted that the case lasted nearly four years, passed through four trial judges, and involved four arraignments.
The prosecution, he added, called six witnesses from the IGP’s office and the Katsina State Government.
In his account of the judgment, Shehu said the presiding judge delivered a 70-page ruling after about two hours, finding that the prosecution had failed to establish a prima facie case.
He further claimed the court described the witnesses as inconsistent and unreliable, concluding that none of the six counts had been proven.
The ruling, as announced by Shehu on X, brings the criminal proceedings against him and his company to a close.
