The National Association of Nigerian Students, South West Zone, has endorsed the call for national protest by its national body over the arrest and detention of a student from Federal University, Dutse, Jigawa State, Aminu Mohammed.
NANS Zone D in a statement on Thursday, signed by its Coordinator, Adejuwon Olatunji, accused Police Inspector General Usman Baba of allowing the police to be used for a “witch hunt.”
Mohammed, who was arrested in November, is being held over a tweet about Aisha Buhari, wife of the president, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (ret.).
Security agents reportedly tracked Mohammed to the campus in Jigawa, picked him up and took him to Abuja, Federal Capital Territory.
A Superior Court in the FCT subsequently referred the student at Suleja Correctional Facility, Niger State, for allegedly damaging the First Lady’s reputation in her Hausa-language tweet earlier this year, which read: “Su mama Anchi Kudin Talakawa an koshi” meaning “Mom has fed to fatten with the money of the poor”.
“We find it disturbing to read the news of Mohammed’s kidnapping and detention. To make matters worse, Mohammed was prosecuted through the back door in a Federal Capital Territory High Court.
“It is inappropriate for the Judiciary to use the court against the community members.
“Normally, one would have expected the First Lady to pursue a civil case against the student for the opinion he expressed on social media if his opinion was indeed wrong, rather than pursue him with state agents to the point where he was abducted and transported from Dutse to the capital city.
“As an association, we are not surprised that the police are still not free from undue political interference, but we find it appalling that the IGP, Usman Baba, could allow the institution of the police to be used for a witch hunt.” the statement said.
NANS said that Aminu was not mistaken in the opinion he expressed, adding that “in fact, he expressed the opinion of all Nigerian students both at home and in the diaspora that ‘while the state orphans are at the door and while the skeletons swarm and strut in the palace square, Aisha Buhari gets fat.
“It is based on the aforementioned and following the principle of solidarity that we hereby declare an action against the kidnapping, detention and covert accusation of Mohammed. As Nigerian students from the South West region, we will start a rapid action stage from Monday, December 5, 2022 to express our discontent against the conduct of Aisha Buhari and the IGP conspiracy and also demand the unconditional release of Mohammed, who is being detained against their will in violation of their fundamental rights to the dignity of the human person,” the statement concluded.