Labour Party Vice Presidential (LP) candidate, Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari’s wife, Aisha Buhari, to release a student of the Federal University Dutse, Jigawa State, Aminu Mohammed, who was arrested in her name.
Recall that the undergraduate student was trailed and arrested days ago after criticizing the First Lady on Twitter.
Naija News reports that Aminu, via the microblogging platform, accused Aisha Buhari of feeding fat on poor people’s money.
Aminu on Tuesday was arraigned before a judge, Yusuf Halilu, of the Federal Capital Territory High Court at Maitama. The student, during the trial, pleaded not guilty and was remanded at Suleja prison in Niger State.
However, Buhari’s wife was listed among those who will testify against the student in the next hearing.
Addressing a press conference in Abuja on Thursday, Yusuf Datti said though Labour Party will not condone any disrespectful act toward elders, Buhari should know that citizens had the right to criticise the government without fear.
He urged the First Lady to release the young man immediately.
He said: “While we will never as a party condone indecorous speech and disrespect to elders, we wish to remind the Buhari State House that they rode to power on the personal denigration of their opponents and empty promises without the slightest clues of good governance.
“Individuals must be free to express themselves freely, and any infraction of law be pursued as a civil matter and not through high-handed abuse of power. This is not 1984. We lend our voice to the genuine calls for his immediate release,” Yusuf Datti added.
He stressed that President Buhari was the military Head of State in 1984, but his regime, which was accused of a poor human rights record, was toppled in 1985.
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