A student of the National Open University of
Nigeria, Abdulmalik Sa’idu, has been languishing
in a police cell for over 20 days on the orders of
the Governor of Katsina State, Ibrahim Shema,
for posting details of an alleged fertilizer scam in
the state on his Facebook wall, Premium Times
reports
This was disclosed to Premium Times by
Mr. Sa’idu’s family and lawyer. Abdulmalik
was first invited to the Katsina Government
House on August 28 by a phone caller who
claimed he had a message for him. But
when Abdulmalik arrived at the governor’s
office, he was promptly arrested,
handcuffed and taken to Batagarawa Police
Station just outside the state capital,
Katsina, and detained on the orders of Mr.
Shema’s aide-de-camp, Shehu Koko, a
Deputy Superintendent of Police, DSP.
According to his father, Maiyawo Sa’idu, while
the young student was not charged with any
offence, he was accused of cloning the
governor’s phone number and using same to call
the state Commissioner for Local Government
and Chieftaincy Affair, Sani Makana, with
instructions that Mr. Makana deposit N3 million
in his account. Mr. Sa’idu said his son was
innocent. He said if indeed Abdulmalik cloned
the governor’s number to dupe a commissioner
he wouldn’t be tricked to come to the
Government House to be arrested. “I think they
are trying to frame him. I know my son cannot
clone the governor’s number and call a
commissioner to put three million into his
account,” Mr. Saidu told PREMIUM TIMES.
He said Abdulmalik was arrested because he
posted details of an alleged fertiliser scam by
the governor on his Facebook page. Mr. Saidu
said prior to his son’s illegal detention, some
officials of the state government had warned his
son to desist from criticising the governor on
Facebook. On one occasion, the General
Manager of Katsina State Road Maintenance
Agency, Jamilu Umar, threatened to pay N2
million to thugs or policemen to kill Abdulmalik
if he doesn’t stop criticising the governor
publicly, Mr. Saidu said. Governor Shema’s Chief
Press Secretary, Sani Malumfashi, rejected
repeated calls made to his mobile phone after
this reporter told him he was calling about
Abdumalik’s case.
Mr. Sa’idu said he is worried about the
wellbeing of his son after relatives were abruptly
stopped from seeing him a week into his being
detained. “For the first week they used to bring
him out to me. He would eat in front of me and
they would take him back to the cell but for
more than 12 days now, we have not seen him.
They told me that they have a directive from
above not to bring him to me,” he said. “The
DPO (Divisional Police Officer) told me they have
a directive from the Government House not to
bring him out for his family or anybody in
Katsina to see him.”
Akin Ajayi, a Kaduna based lawyer, who is
helping the family on the case, said the DPO of
Batagarawa Police Station told him he had order
from above not to release Abdulmalik on bail. “I
spoke to the DPO of the Batagarawa Police
Station and he said he cannot do anything
because it was an order from above,” he said.
Mr. Ajayi said as a lawyer, the governor should
realise that he was breaking the law by holding
the boy beyond 48 hours on a “frivolous claim.”
“The governor is a lawyer, his deputy is a lawyer
and the attorney general is a lawyer and they all
know that it is wrongful of them to arrest
someone and keep him in detention for more
than 48 hours on a frivolous claim that the boy
cloned the governor’s number and wanted to
collect N3 million and some other concocted
allegations which are not proven. And they now
kept the boy incommunicado. His family cannot
reach him, and these days because of the
security situation in the north, he could be
killed,” he added. Mr. Ajayi warned that if
Abdulmalik was not released he was going to
send a petition to the National Human Rights
Commission and the Inspector General of Police.
The DPO of Batagarawa declined to talk to
Premium Times after he was asked on whose
orders Abdulmalik was being held beyond the 48
hours stipulated by law.
The Police PRO, Abubakar Sadiq, also refused
to return several calls after promising to find out
the details of the case.
Culled from Premium Times
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