Protests Over Arrest Of University Student Who Criticised Aisha Buhari

Outrage has trailed the arrest of a student of Federal University Dutse (FUD), Aminu Adamu Mohammed, over a Twitter post he made against Mrs Aisha Buhari, the wife of President Muhammadu Buhari, where he wrote in Hausa language “Su mama Anchi Kudin Talakawa an koshi”, meaning “Mama has fed fat on poor people’s money”.

Mohammed, from Azare, Bauchi State, is a final year student at the Department of Environmental Management of the university.

He was said to have been arrested by plainclothes policemen and tortured. The person who leaked the arrest was equally reported to have been arrested and beaten into coma.

The critics have accused Mrs Buhari of being responsible for the arrest after the father of Aminu, who received a call from his son, said he told him he was beaten and taken to the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

In an interview with BBC Hausa, the parents of Mohammed asked the first lady to forgive their son.

Shehu Baba Azare, a younger brother of Aminu Adamu’s father, told the BBC Hausa that they needed their son to be released to them.

He said, “We were not aware of it until five days later, when Aminu’s friend called my brother (Aminu’s father) and told him that he hadn’t seen Aminu for the past five days.

“The next day, Aminu called his father and told him that he was arrested and taken to Aisha Buhari at the Presidential Villa and that he was beaten and detained. He said one of the securitymen gave him his phone to make the call.

“Adamu (Aminu’s father) also told me that he was called from the university informing him that his son was arrested but without their knowledge. We are begging the First Lady; please forgive him, you are a mother.”

According to BBC Hausa, the source said the arrest has caused a lot of concern in the university and also among parents considering the security situation in the country.

Although the masterminds of the arrest are unknown, the attention of critics has remained glued on the first lady who has not spoken on the matter.

Her spokesman has equally kept mum over the incident as Barrister Aliyu Abdullahi, Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Office of the First Lady, neither picked calls nor replied a text message from our reporter.

What critics said

Najatu Mohammed, a commissioner in the Police Service Commission (PSC), had requested for the prosecution of the first lady for taking the law into her own hands.

In an interview with Daily Nigerian, she said her alleged action must be condemned by all Nigerians and called on security operatives to arrest and prosecute the first lady.

“She doesn’t have the right to do that. In fact, she should be prosecuted for doing just that. She has taken the law into her hands. She has taken the place and the responsibilities of the commander-in-chief.

“I think Nigerians should rise up and say no to this. We will no longer accept this tyranny. Buhari left a vacuum in leadership that is why all manner of people grabbed it.

“The same woman who said Mamman Daura had taken over her husband’s government has now become a tyrant. It is apparent she didn’t make that statement for God and the country but her selfish interest. This is not the first time she is doing this. She did it to her former ADC a couple of years ago… That boy was kept in prison for months. It took our intervention for him to be released. This is really a terrible thing to have happened.”

The rights activist wondered why the president’s wife and the security agencies had not been able to tame the growing insecurity in the country with the same vigor used in taming perceived critics.

“I want to ask our security men, why haven’t they been able to track down bandits and killers all over the country? Nigeria has become a killing machine. Women are being raped every single day, and their husbands are being killed.

“Millions have been made orphans. I have never known a time when Mrs Buhari even sympathized with these people, let alone get the bandits or culprits tracked down and taken to prison or even prosecuted. We have never heard that. She has become so egocentric, she has become the law in herself. Because of the irresponsibility of Nigerians who have allowed this to happen.

“This is our country. We have permanent right over our leaders. We didn’t vote for Aisha Buhari or any of these hangers on around Buhari. We voted for Buhari, and the same peasants, artisans, students, and general people of this country that voted for Buhari are now getting the exact opposite of what they hoped for. ”

Also reacting, the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) issued a 48-hour ultimatum to the police for the unconditional release of the arrested student.

The national treasurer of NANS and the chairman in charge of North West, Bashir Sulaiman Limanci, at a press briefing in Dutse, Jigawa State capital, condemned the arrest and detention of Adamu who is to start his final examination on December 6.

The students threatened to convoke a nationwide protest against the police and Mrs Buhari.

Meanwhile, the management of FUD has said the university was not in session when the incident happened, thus, the student was not under their care when he made the post on Twitter.

“The unfortunate incident involving Aminu Adamu, who made a Twitter post, happened during the break. He did the posting in his capacity as Aminu Adamu, not as a student of FUD.

“He was trailed to Dutse where he was arrested. The university authorities have spoken to the parents who have already engaged the services of a lawyer to handle the matter and they are hopeful for an amicable resolution soon,” the university’s spokesperson, Abdullahi Bello, said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the police in Jigawa said they were not aware of the arrest.

The spokesman, Lawan Adam, said any arrest by the police out of the Jigawa command must be communicated to the police in Jigawa before it would take effect.

He said in this particular incident, the command had yet to be communicated on any arrest by the police outside the state.

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