“Your Continued Detention, Persecution Of Prof Yusuf Will Have Consequences” – Katsina Elders  Warn Tinubu

By Suleiman Anyalewechi

The Katsina State Elders Forum has warned President Bola Tinubu and the Federal Government of the consequences of the arrest and continued detention of Prof. Usman Yusuf. Prof Yusuf, an oncologist, was the Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme NHIS.

The Forum  insists on the innocence of the former NHIS boss.

The Source reports that Prof Yusuf is presently being prosecuted by the Country’s anti-corruption agency, the Economic and Financial Crime  Commission, EFCC, on charges bordering on alleged misappropriation of funds and embezzlement.

The Court on Monday, February 3, 2025, ordered  his remand at the Kuje Custodial Centre in Abuja, after he was brought to Court from the EFCC custody. The Court rejected his Lawyers plea that he be still kept in the custody of the Commission pending the argument for his bail.

But at a media briefing on Tuesday, February 5, 2025, Mamman Danmusa, Chairman of the Katsina Elders Forum, maintained that the continued detention of Yusuf could lead to some unintended outcomes.

The Forum, while insisting on the  innocence of Prof Yusuf, blamed his travails on some members of an alleged cabal within Tinubu’s administration, who are uncomfortable with his outspokenness.

“For the present Government, there are people against Usman because of the way he was granting media interviews.

“The Americans still need him, and all over the world, he is needed. We don’t have his type in Nigeria.

“We are reminding Tinubu that all Nigerians are entitled to all rights and should not forget that the Northern region gave him five million votes he used to climb to power, and those five million have now multiplied because of the situation on the ground which has forced every Northerner to renew his voters card.

“I am assuring the President that all of us are going to vote. We are suffering and the President knows that we are suffering.

“The open sectionalism in his administration is so unfortunate. Some people are being accused of stealing billions and trillions ,and nobody is talking about it.

“But because Usman Yusuf has been telling Nigerians the truth, and the true position of things, he has been clamped down on and locked up by the EFCC”, the Forum lamented

Continuing, the Secretary of the Forum, Aliyu Muhammad, said Prof Yusuf, who was living comfortably in the United States of America, as a renowned hematologist, met a lot of mess at NHIS, after being pressured to come on board.

He noted that it was Prof Yusuf’s  courage in trying to fix things and his boldness in speaking truth to power that have led to his ordeal

” This man (Prof.Usman Yusuf) was working in the USA, earning handsome salary. The Federal Government of Nigeria went and pressured him to come back home and assist.

“He was asked to head the National Health Insurance Scheme, NHIS. He met a lot of mess and he wanted to put things right. But he was kicked out”, Muhammad stated.

While calling for his immediate and unconditional release, the Forum maintained that the former  NHIS  Boss, has not committed any offence to warrant his persecution by the Federal Government.