PICTORIAL: 'The Battle Line Is Drawn', Says Ex-Minister After Visit To Ex-NHIS Boss In Prison

A former Minister of Sport, Barrister Solomon Dalung, has said the battle line for the defence of freedom in Nigeria has been drawn following the seven-day ultimatum by the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, to a social activist and politician, Hajia Naja’atu Mohammed, over the latter’s TikTok video suggesting the former had once dubbed his current principal, President Bola Tinubu, a corrupt politician.

Dalung spoke after his visit to the incarcerated Prof. Yusuf Usman in Kuje Custodial Centre in Abuja on Tuesday.

Recall that Prof. Usman, a former Executive Secretary of the now renamed National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), was arrested by the operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) last week over alleged corruption while in office. He is currently standing trial before an FCT High Court, which has now remanded him in the custodial facility.

However, the former Minister, who disclosed the visit to the former NHIS boss at the Kuje Prison via his Facebook page through a piece titled ‘NO RETREAT, NO SURRENDER, FREEDOM COME BY STRUGGLE’ on Wednesday, accused the President Bola Tinubu government of ‘civilian dictatorship’.

Dalung wrote: “On the 4th February, myself and Comrade Mahdi Shehu visited Comrade Professor Usman Yusuf at the Kuje Correctional facility Abuja. He was arrested by men of EFCC, arraigned before FCT High Court Kuje and remanded on charges of corruption.

“We met him in good health and high spirit. He was even more concerned about the situation in the country than even his detention. His character strength was not only consoling but it also strengthen the struggle for good governance. I also used the opportunity to inspect our potential accommodation in view of the current crackdown on voices of dissent. There’s no amount of intimidation and state harassment that can deter us.

“With the current threats to our defiant Comrade Na’ajaratu Mohammed by mallam Nuhu Ribadu, Tinubu’s NSA, the battle line is drawn for the defence of freedom. This is a clarion call to the struggle community to buckle up for challenges of civilian dictatorship. We must rally round the #freeprofusman struggle by availing yourselves to all court sessions if you can afford. We shall return to the streets if justice remains elusive. An injury to one is an injury to all, therefore we are all prisoners of conscience only waiting to be picked. However we are resolute in our conviction that every struggle has a price and a new Nigeria is attainable.”