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 fertiliser
scam in the state on his Facebook timeline.
Abdumalik Saidu
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.
The Saidus’ case comes days after global rights group,
Amnesty International, released a damning report accusing
the Nigerian police of arbitrarily arresting, torturing and killing
thousands of Nigerians without following legal process.
The report accused the police of running “torture chambers”
where detainees are abused for money or for confessions.
The police dismissed the allegations as “falsehoods and
innuendos” saying the Force does not tolerate torture and that
where it occurs, officials responsible are sanctioned.
But Abdulmalik’s arrest points to how widespread arbitrary
arrests have remained even for the flimsiest of reasons. Many
such arrests are effected on the directives of senior state
officials, including governors.
In November 2012, a civil servant in Bauchi State, who
questioned the financial integrity of the governor, Isa Yuguda,
was immediately dismissed on direct orders of the governor.
In a Facebook post, Abbas Faggo had accused Mr. Yuguda of
corruption, questioning the source of funding of the governor’s
son’s wedding which took place then.
Mr. Faggo was first suspended, and later arrested by the
police. He was eventually arraigned before the Chief
Magistrate of the state for the same offence. The judge,
Adamu Madaki, struck out the case because “it was not
properly filed.”
A letter terminating Mr. Faggo’s appointment, signed by one
Ibrahim Shehu for the Head of Service of the State, said his
services were no longer needed.
B
arely a year after the Bauchi case, the Bayelsa State governor,
Seriake Dickson, ordered the arrest of a businessman, Tonye
Okio, for also criticising him on Facebook.
Mr. Okio, who was also a former Abuja Liaison officer for
Bayelsa State, was arrested on October 26 at his Abuja
residence. He was subsequently blindfolded and driven to
Bayelsa by the Special Investigation Bureau, SIB.
The police also stripped Mr. Okio of his mobile gadgets and
all postings on his Facebook account about Mr. Dickson were
deleted.
Two days after his arrest, the Bayelsa police released a
statement that Mr. Okio was arrested for “seditious
publications against the Bayelsa governor”.
“This is to inform the general public and the good people of
Bayelsa State in particular that the Bayelsa police command
has succeeded in apprehending one Tonye Okio ‘M’ of
Otiokpoti, Ogbia Local Government Area, Bayelsa State for the
offence of seditious publications,” the police said in a
statement. “The suspects whose syndicate members are now
at large will be appropriately arraigned in court when
investigation is complete.”
Police detained Mr. Okio for 10 days without trial before his
lawyer filed a case at a Bayelsa High Court demanding his
fundamental rights be enforce and that he be charged to court
if he has indeed done anything wrong.
A day before the case was to be heard, the police charged Mr.
Okio before a Magistrate Court for defamatory publication
against the Bayelsa governor. After taking his plea, the
Magistrate Court adjourned the case to November 21 for trial.
Mr. Okio was eventually released after spending 86 days
behind bars.
Katsina family denied access to Abdulmalik
In Katsina, 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.
Source: http://saharareporters.com/2014/09/21/katsina-gov-shema-orders-student-detained-indefinitely-criticizing-him-facebook

some people will start blaming jonathan for this.
all this useless governors
imagine if He become the president. He would have block facebook or twitter because of the insult he may be receiving from there.
Jonathan!!!
You are a man. You are the must curse president on the social media but you never arrest anyone
thats what i called true leader.

THAT IS WHY I RESPECT JONATHAN, HE IS INDEED A LEADER NOT A RULER. SOME OF THESE VULTURES (GOVERNORS)WOULD HAVE HANGED THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE IF THERE ARE PRESIDENT AND PEOPLE INSULT THEM THE WAY JONATHAN IS BEING INSULTED DAILY.

You know, I mostly get worried on how they fill whenever they read/hear Nigerians' criticism. Infact! people are really good in criticizing.

God bless Jonathan

Banana Republic no brain goat Governor. No wonder Nigeria has a bad name with fools like this.