Gov Lamido’s alleged Facebook critic: – ‘My ordeal in detention’
Mukhtari had been charged to a Dutse magistrate court on Monday over charges of slander against the Jigawa governor, in reference to his status update posted on his Facebook page on January 19, 2011, a charge he denies. The court earlier ordered that he be remanded in prison for one week, pending a ruling as […]
Mukhtari had been charged to a Dutse magistrate court on Monday over charges of slander against the Jigawa governor, in reference to his status update posted on his Facebook page on January 19, 2011, a charge he denies. The court earlier ordered that he be remanded in prison for one week, pending a ruling as to whether to admit him on bail or not, as the offence contradicts section 393 of the Penal Code. However, after spending a night in detention in a Jigawa Prison, the state government, through the Attorney-General, withdrew the case.
However, Mukhtari’s father told Weekly Trust that they were still being targeted by the Lamido administration, which is why they fled the state. Father and son gave a blow-by-blow account of how the whole saga began. “On January 19, some security men went to my uncle in Dutse and told him I was wanted for purchasing stolen computers,” said Mukhtari. “I was at Gumel with my father, so my uncle called him on the phone and told him of the allegation. My father and I decided to return to Dutse and headed straight to the state police headquarters.”
“The Commissioner of Police was not around on our arrival. When he returned, we were taken to him. He then picked a printout of a Facebook page containing my name, photo and address and asked me if I knew who that was and I identified it as mine. He asked me ‘what about this comment?’ to which I replied ‘I know nothing about it, except that shortly after the PDP presidential primaries, various text messages were circulated throughout the northern region from individuals venting their anger in highly uncouth language over the outcome and they were sent to many people. That was how I got it’, I explained to him.”
Ibrahim continued: “He then said that the governor ordered that I should be taken to Abuja and be detained. But they kept me in a cell until the next day when policemen took me to Force Headquarters in Abuja. There I was interrogated. I was not bothered by the fact that he said Lamido has interest in the case because I could smell politics all around it, but when he mentioned the IG, I was shocked.”
Mukhtari also said he was starved for two days while in detention. “When I told the police I wanted to eat they asked me to bring money for food. But I told them I was penniless and that was how I was dumped into a cell. The hunger I suffered in the cell caused me serious stomach ulcer and I was rushed by the police to a hospital in Abuja where I spent three days before I was returned back to the cell,” explained Mukhtari. “I was moved back to Dutse on a Sunday and detained in a cell half-naked. I slept on the bare floor for two days in that state,” he told Weekly Trust.
Mukhtari added that when he was charged to court, the government lawyer prosecuting the case opposed a bail application by his lawyer, arguing that he may pose a security risk as his release could spark protests by his followers in the state, which may cause loss of lives and destruction of property.
Mukhtari’s father noticed the situation escalating steadily. “After the court session where my son was refused bail and remanded in prison custody, my lawyer called to inform me that the Jigawa State commissioner for justice had contacted him and informed him that they were not interested in going ahead with the case, but that they will not terminate it until my son signs an undertaking not to sue them,” the father said. “Obviously that tells you that they knew that injustice had been done to the boy and he may decide to seek redress. So, after consulting with my lawyer, I decided that the case should not be discontinued because we will sue. After what seemed like an attempt to lure my son and I to the Government House, it became clear that it was an attempt to humiliate us both. So, after the case was terminated, the commissioner asked us to follow him to the government house. I nodded my approval and had him move ahead in his vehicle while my son and I trailed behind him in my car, but as he took a left turn I turned right and headed home.”
Mukhtari’s father continued: “Thereafter, someone called my phone and advised me to flee the state as the governor had ordered that Mukhtari be arrested and taken to him. That was when I rushed him out of the state and brought him to a hospital in Kano. I’m now here as a political refugee and my return to Jigawa will be based on when they stop targeting us and when there is no more threat to my well-being and that of my son.”
But in his reaction to the allegations, Jigawa State Attorney-General, Barrister Inuwa told Weekly Trust that the matter has already been settled since it was withdrawn from court. The Attorney-General, however, said he had no comments on the allegation that Ibrahim and his father were being targeted for arrest. Also, the Jigawa State Police Command Public Relations Officer, ASP Abdul Jinjiri, confirmed the arrest and interrogation of Ibrahim, but said it did not come to his knowledge if he had been detained half-naked. Meanwhile, when contacted over the issue, the Police Force Headquarters spokesperson, DC Olusola Amore, promised to get back to our correspondent, but did not up to the time of filing this report.