…Taraba state Attorney-General has questions to answer
Following the recent disclosure that a 27-year old Fulani graduate of Accounting, Abdulahi Aliyu has been held in the Jalingo Correctional Centre for more than one year without any criminal charge levelled against him or trial, the Rule of Law And Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC) has called on the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to immediately commence investigation into the alleged illegal detention.
A statement issued by the Executive Director of RULAAC, Mr. Okechukwu Nwanguma called for speedy intervention and redress of the rights violations inflicted on the victim.
It read in part: “Rule of Law And Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC) has received a shocking and troubling information about a Nigerian citizen from Taraba State, Abdulahi Aliyu who is said to have been in Jalingo Correctional Centre since March 2019 and has spent approximately 13 months in prison without being charged to any court. He said he was never charged to court.
“The 27 year-old Abdulahi Aliyu, a graduate of Adamawa State University, Mubi was a serving Youth Corp member before the onset of his ordeal. He revealed that he was arrested over an ‘offensive’ Facebook comment he made about the Governor of his state, Darius Ishaku. He said he made the comment on the 12th of March, 2019 and was arrested on the 21st of March, 2019.
“He said he made the comment in a Facebook post by the Special Adviser (SA) on Media to the Deputy Governor Haruna Manu where he congratulated the Deputy Governor in reaction to his post and said if the Governor dies, he will replace him. He said the SA screenshot and saved the comment and reported it to the office of the Deputy Governor.
‘The offending post was deleted when I had to do an apology to the Governor’, he said.
“We understand that the Taraba State Governor Ishaku left his state sometime around December 22, 2018 and travelled out staying about 80 days out of the state. There were calls by citizens and opposition party to the State House of Assembly to cause a transmission of power to the Deputy Governor since nobody knew the whereabouts of the Governor. It must have been within this period that the young Aliyu made his comment and the Deputy Governor, in an apparent move to dissociate himself from the comment and save his head politically, descended on the lad.
“Abdullah Aliyu’s whereabouts remained unknown until April 12, 2020, when he had the opportunity to call an older friend of his from prison and narrated his touching ordeal.
His friend who is from Imo state said of him: ‘Abdulahi Aliyu, a Fulani by tribe was my student when I did my NYSC with GTC, Zing, Taraba state. He was the best accounting student then and overall best student. He has been in touch with me ever since I finished serving and he took me as his mentor. All the major decisions he took, he consulted me for advice before taking such decisions.I was instrumental to the choice of course he read in the university and today l, he is a graduate. He graduated with a second class upper in accounting and was posted to Abia state for his Nysc.’
‘During his camping, he called me and told me that his parents wanted him to redeploy to their state because of the last general election I advised him against it. After much pressure from his parents, he succumbed and redeployed. I was happy that a little boy from an educationally less advantaged state whom I mentored had become a graduate and a guy with sound grammar. I was hoping to see him before he redeployed but I did not due to the nature of my job.’
‘He became a vocal person and social critic on government bad policies.After he redeployed, we lost contact. I never heard from him again, I became worried. All efforts to reach him even through the cousin proved abortive. I was hoping and praying he was fine.’
“Today, I got a call from an unknown number, behold it was him. I leaped for joy but my joy was cut short.He said to me “Papa”as he fondly called me “I am sorry ,I have been in the prison for about a year”.I was cold. I asked him what happened he said after he redeployed, he criticised his governor on Facebook he was arrested and sent to prison without trial.He told me he was calling with the prison number.He said the DG NYSC intervened and he was asked to write an apology letter to the governor which he wrote but up till now, he has not been released.They have refused to charge him to court. My heart is bitter. Aliyu is a responsible, promising intelligent guy who is incarcerated for criticising his governor. He said his incarceration was planned by the state SSG who is from his local govt because of his perceived Facebook post against him.’
RULAAC however expressed seriously concern that a citizen could be sent to prison without an order of court or without being found guilty and convicted of any legally established crime after a fair trial by a court of competent jurisdiction.
It said: “Authorities of the Jalingo Correctional Centre and the Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General of Taraba State have explanations to make for this strange happening; the blatant subversion of due process and flagrant abuse of the citizens fundamental rights to fair hearing, personal liberty and human dignity.”
RULAAC therefore called on the National Human Rights Commission to undertake a prompt, exhaustive and effective investigation to unravel this mystery and ensure accountability and redress for the gross violation of the fundamental rights of the victim.
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