More reactions have followed the arrest of Aminu Muhammad, a student at the Federal University of Dutse in Jigawa State, by Nigeria’s First Lady, Aisha Buhari, for allegedly insulting her on the microblogging platform Twitter.
WITHIN NIGERIA reports that the latest critic of the First Lady’s actions is Deji Adeyanju, an Abuja-based socio-political activist who has slammed Mrs Buhari for ordering Muhammad’s arrest and unlawful torture.
The activist accused Mrs Buhari of living off Nigerian taxpayers’ money, claiming that the unlawful arrest and torture of the student by security forces on the First Lady’s orders is demeaning and unconstitutional.
As a result, Adeyanju has urged the international community to prohibit the First Lady from speaking at future human rights programs.
His reaction follows Aminu Muhammad’s arrest, detention, and supervised’ torture on November 8, 2022.
The First Lady was said to have ordered the student’s unlawful torture because she claimed he insulted her in a Twitter comment.
Muhammed had tweeted in Hausa, “Su mama anchi kudin talkawa ankoshi,” which translates as “Mama has eaten poor people’s money and is now full,” with an attached photo of the First Lady.
CK Agu, Muhammed’s lawyer, confirmed to BBC Hausa yesterday that his client was arraigned before the Federal Capital Territory High Court No. 14 and pleaded not guilty to the crime he was accused of.
Agu said;
He is currently being held in Suleja prison before the bail application is heard.
The boy’s uncle, Shehu Baba-Azare, also noted that;
It’s clearly a secret arraignment because they did not inform us. We are very concerned about his situation. He will sit for his final exam on December 5.
Adeyanju, who is also the Convener of Concerned Nigerians in a statement pointed out that;
Aisha Buhari is feeding fat on our money. However, while it is acknowledged that Mohammed’s post only speaks to facts because of available statistics. According to reports; the estimated yearly budget for food & travels for Aso Rock from 2016 till date is: 2016 – N3.27 billion; 2017 – N3.11 billion; 2018 – N3.81 billion; 2019 – N3.39 billion; 2020 – N7.46 billion; 2021 – N6.07 billion; 2022 – N6.77 billion. From these gulping budgeted sums, one can only safely posit that Mohammed’s assertion is the complete truth as the First Lady has been feeding fat on taxpayers’ money used in offsetting budget expenses for Aso Rock.
Thus, the conduct of the First Lady and the detailed security agencies is bereft of sound judgment, oppressive and unconstitutional. First off, for such arrest and torture of the student to have been triggered through the First Lady is demeaning to the office of the President and does not portray the entire country in a good light to the entire world, in terms of respect for citizens fundamental freedoms protected under the country’s Constitution. In the world over, it has been accepted that torture constitutes a serious matter of concern that threatens the life and dignity of human persons.
Accordingly, the international community is called to ban Mrs Aisha Buhari from either attending or speaking at Human Rights events in demonstration of their condemnation against the First Lady’s conduct. In this regard, all the Security officials involved in this dastardly act should also be made to face the full wrath of the Law.