I’m suing EFCC for violating my rights – Abusidiqu

Popular blogger, Abubakar Sadiq Usman who administers the blog, abusidiqu.com, was on Monday August 8 arrested and detained by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The circumstances of his arrest have been unclear as the EFCC warrant said he was arrested for “offensive publication” while a press statement said he was detained for “cyber […]

Popular blogger, Abubakar Sadiq Usman who administers the blog, abusidiqu.com, was on Monday August 8 arrested and detained by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The circumstances of his arrest have been unclear as the EFCC warrant said he was arrested for “offensive publication” while a press statement said he was detained for “cyber stalking”. His detention sparked a #freeabusidiqu campaign on twitter, which trended until after his release a day later. Daily Trust of Sunday interviewed the man popularly known as Abusidiqu, who recounts his experience in detention and the fallout of it.

You were detained recently by the EFCC. Did they specify their charges against you or why you were detained?
Well, when they came to my house and produced a search warrant, they said the allegation against me was that I made offensive publications against the EFCC and its staff. And then when we got to the office, they didn’t tell me anything else until I saw their press statement that they had arrested me for cyber stalking. That was how I got to know the allegation against me. They didn’t tell me this was the actual allegation against me; it was what I read from the warrant and from their press statement.
So what they had on the warrant was different from what they had on the press statement?
Yes. What they had on their search warrant was (an allegation of) offensive publication. What they had on the press statement was “cyber stalking”.
Did they explain to you what offensive publication you made to warrant your detention?
They didn’t explain to me. They only brought out some documents and printouts of those publications I made and the email that the author of that publication sent to me. They asked if they were the publications I made and I confirmed that they were. That was all.
Did they explain what cyber stalking was or how you might have done it?
They didn’t even tell me that my offence was cyber stalking. They didn’t explain anything.
And how long were you in detention for?
Well, they came to my house at about 7:30-8 in the morning of Monday [August 8] and from the point they told me I was under arrest, I believed my freedom had ceased to exist. So from 8am up till 6 pm of Tuesday when they released me, that was about 36 hours or so.
What did they do to you in detention?
They were just asking me questions. They were asking me to write a statement.
What sort of statement did they want you to write?
They brought out a lot of documents, printouts of the publications and asked me to confirm if they were published by me.
When you were making these publications on your blog, did you think they were offensive or in contravention of any law?
I didn’t think so because as I said, I have also been able to prove sufficiently to them, especially from the point of view that they have been able to bring out emails that the author sent to me, my belief is that they were opinion articles and someone might have information about something and based on this, form opinions.
Whether they are right or wrong is another matter, but as someone who has the platform I give them room to express their view. I didn’t think about whether they were right or wrong. It was an opinion article in my estimation so I let them air their views
Didn’t you think that the opinion might be offensive or contain sensitive information?
I don’t think any of it contained anything offensive or any sensitive information. I don’t think any of them contained such information. Majorly, they were allegations about how he was treating staff within the agency (EFCC). There was no sensitive information contained.
So how were you released eventually?
The day I was arrested, I was granted bail and they asked me to produce two directors in the Federal Civil Service with landed property in Abuja Municipal Area Council and deposit my international passport with them but the following day, they softened the bail condition and I produced one surety.
Did they take you to court?
No, they didn’t. They only asked me to produce the sureties before they would release me and when I did they asked me to go. They didn’t tell me anything else.
Didn’t your lawyers intervene?
Before I had access to my lawyer it was much, much later in the day. I understand that my lawyer came shortly after my arrest but they didn’t give him access to me. The same thing with my wife and my child, who is three months old. They sat at the office there and couldn’t get access to me until after several hours. I didn’t have access to my lawyer until much later that evening and at that point, they had already asked me 80-90 per cent of the questions they wanted to ask and I had written the statement they asked for.
Have they filed any charges against you?
They haven’t.
Don’t you think that is a bit odd?
I think it is. I don’t know what their plan is so I am still waiting.
Do you feel that your fundamental human rights were violated?
Yes. They were violated because the way and manner they came to arrest me and the arrest itself is illegal and I must say this, I believe they laid siege on me because they passed the night in the estate close to mine just to keep tabs on me and then in the morning they came with several armed police men, searched my house. The way and manner I was arrested was a breach of my fundamental human rights.
So what do you plan to do about it?
I have already gone to court. We are waiting for the court process to commence next week.
Your blog is quite popular for publishing information or news about security developments in the country. Could this be a possible reason for your being targeted by the EFCC?
I couldn’t say. I think the basis of this arrest was the last publication, which talked about how he (the EFCC chairman) is treating the core staff of the EFCC. It was after this publication, about two or three days after, that they came for my arrest.
As I have always said, none of the publications were about the staff of the EFCC. They were particular about the chairman of the EFCC and if he felt aggrieved or that our publication was offensive or not factual, he should have pursued it in his personal capacity, not to use the EFCC to pursue a personal battle.
Have you had any encounters with the law before considering the kind of information you publish on your blog?
I haven’t really. This publication on the EFCC chairman may be somewhat negative but there have been a lot of positive publications about even the same EFCC chairman, the agency itself and other security agencies. So, it is not like my target was to attack security organisations, that is not my aim. It is a balanced blog.
Did you have the chance to talk directly with the EFCC boss?
No, I didn’t. I was told he was out of the country.