The National Association of Nigerian Students, South-West zone, has backed the call for nationwide protest by its national body over the arrest and detention of a student of the Federal University, Dutse, Jigawa State, Aminu Mohammed.
The NANS Zone D in a statement on Thursday, signed by its Coordinator, Adejuwon Olatunji, accused the Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba, of allowing the police to be used for a “witch-hunt.”
Mohammed, who was arrested in November, is being detained over a tweet concerning Aisha Buhari, wife of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).
Mohammed was reportedly traced to the campus in Jigawa by security operatives, who picked him up and brought him to Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory.
A High Court in the FCT subsequently remanded the student at the Suleja Correctional Centre, Niger State, for allegedly damaging the reputation of the First Lady in his tweet made in Hausa language earlier in the year, which read, “Su mama Anchi Kudin Talakawa an koshi,” and meaning, “Mama has fed fat on poor people’s money.”
“We find it disturbing to read the news of the abduction and detention of Mohammed. To worsen the issue, Mohammed was arraigned through the backdoor in a Federal Capital Territory High Court.
“It is unbecoming of the Judiciary that the court is being used against the commoners.
“Ordinarily, one would have expected the First Lady to institute a civil case against the student for the opinion he expressed on the social media space if truly his opinion was wrong, rather than chasing him with state agents to the extent that he was abducted and ferried from Dutse to the capital city.
“As an association, we are not shocked that the police are not yet free from undue political interference, but we find it appalling that the IGP, Usman Baba, could allow the institution of the police to be used for a witch-hunt,” the statement read.
NANS said Aminu was not wrong in the opinion he expressed, adding “indeed, he expressed the opinion of all Nigerian students both home and in the diaspora that ‘while state orphans are at the door and while skeletons swarm and swagger in the palace square, Aisha Buhari gets fatter.’
“It is based on the aforementioned and following the principle of solidarity that we hereby declare an action against the abduction, detention and backdoor arraignment of Mohammed. As Nigerian students from the South-West region, we shall commence a rapid stage of action from Monday, December 5, 2022, to express our displeasure against the conduct of Aisha Buhari and the conspiracy by the IGP and also demand for the unconditional release of Mohammed who is being detained against his will in violation of his fundamental rights to dignity of human person,” the statement concluded.
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