Aisha Buhari, Nigeria’s First Lady is having it really rough with not a few Nigerians at the moment for her alleged involvement in the arrest and detention of Aminu Adamu, an undergraduate of the Federal University, Dutse Jigawa state.
Adamu has been in detention of the Department of State Services, DSS for days, on the alleged directive of Aisha after the university student criticised her on twitter for living large on the public funds. His family said he has received serious beating from security operatives following his arrest.
His parents who spoke to journalists said they were not aware of his detention by the DSS until after five days, calling on President Muhammadu Buhari and his wife to intervene so that their son could be released.
According to his uncle, Shehu Azare, who spoke to the BBC, Shehu ‘s detention has caused his father a serious trauma, since he was arrested by the secrete police over a week ago.
Narrating how they got to know about their son’s travail, he said, it was one of the officers who detained Shehu that gave him his mobile telephone to call them.
Azare said, “His father did not know about his arrest. It was five days later that one of Mallam Ádámù’s friends called and told him that his son had not been seen in school for about five days. That was last Monday.
“Then a day after, Aminu called his father and told him what was happening, that he was arrested and taken to Aso Rock by the wife of the President, Muhammad Buhari, beaten, scolded and was arrested somewhere.
“It was a security agent that gave him a phone and told him to tell his parents. Later on, Adamu explained more to me that the school authority called him and told him that it had no knowledge of the incident before, but now they have information on his arrest.”
“We are in tension because you cannot stand your son disappearing like this. Same incident happened in so many places, some you don’t even hear about again. What we are saying is that let her not be offended, let her be patient and release him, because she is a mother, that is what we are hoping,” Azare said.
Responding to Adamu’s arrest, the Institution’s spokesperson, Abdullahi Bello, in a statement, said he was arrested outside the school’s premises, adding that the institution had nothing to do with it.
“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,” Bello said.
In her response, Aisha Yesufu, a human rights activist and co-founder of Bringbackourgirls, said it was wrong for Buhari to order the arrest of Shehu, saying “Aisha Buhari should be ashamed of herself. This is so unlawful. Her husband has thrown 133 million Nigerians into multidimensional poverty. Haven’t they grown fat over the sweat of Nigerians? They have been thrown into multidimensional wealth. Who is she to arrest people for telling her to have eaten the riches of the poor?”
The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA said the arrest points to the level of decay among security services in the country. It said the DSS has degenerated to the level or arresting people who gossips on social media.
The Executive Director of HURIWA, Emmanuel Onwubiko, said, “It is a very sad development. Whether it was the DSS or police that arrested the guy, it shows that the government has continued to deploy security assets to chase after gossip. They go to websites and social media in search of those gossiping about the President, his wife and his children, to arrest them.”
On his part, the Executive Director, Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre, Okechukwu Nwanguma, said the arrest violated the right of the student.
He said Aisha should have charged Adamu to court instead of taking law into her hands by ordering his arrest.
He said: “RULAAC is following developments around the arrest and incommunicado detention of Aminu, for posting on Twitter that Mrs (Aisha) Buhari had suddenly added weight after taking part in plundering the nation’s meagre resources as the masses endured hardship under her husband’s regime.
“RULAAC condemns the arrest and incommunicado detention of the citizen as being in violation of his democratic right to freedom of expression. If, however, the government believes that it has credible evidence against him to warrant his arrest, he should not be detained illegally. “
“He should have been charged to court before now. This is yet another evidence of an attack on civic freedom and the shrinking civic space. We call for his immediate release and remedies as prescribed by law for violations of civil liberties.”
Since the story broke, neither Aisha or the Presidency has responded to the issue.
Meanwhile, not a few Nigerians insist that the detainee has suffered enough, and should be released immediately. They also accused Nigeria leaders of acting like emperors and dictators, while other world leaders have learnt to Ignore social media attacks from their citizens.
They cited President Emmanuel Macron of France, for example, who have been attacked many times by his citizens, but chose to let security forces do their job by charging the attackers to court.
