Shafi’u Umar Tureta, an aide to former Sokoto State governor, Aminu Tambuwal, has been remanded in a correctional facility over accusations bordering on defaming the incumbent governor, Ahmad Aliyu and his wife, Fatima, on social media.
The allegations against Tureta, who served as Tambuwal’s Special Assistant on Local and Digital Media, were brought before a magistrate’s court in Sokoto on Monday.
According to reports, Tureta was charged with circulating injurious falsehood and engraving matter known to be defamatory, actions that allegedly violate the Penal Code. The offences are said to have been committed in July.
The accusations against Tureta include sharing a document on Facebook that purportedly showed Governor Aliyu scoring an F9 in English Language in the Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE).
Additionally, Tureta allegedly posted a video of dollar notes being sprayed during the birthday celebration of Fatima, the governor’s wife, and shared other videos mocking the governor’s fluency in English.
Armed security operatives reportedly stormed Tureta’s residence on Sunday to arrest him.
The presiding magistrate, Fatima Hassan, barred journalists from covering the case during the court proceedings, Premium Times reports.
Human rights organization, Amnesty International Nigeria has condemned Tureta’s arrest, calling for his “unconditional release.”
The organisation described the arrest as “unacceptable” and claimed that the charges against Tureta were “bogus.”
“This surge in human rights violations by the Sokoto State government is unacceptable and must end now,” Amnesty International stated in a release.
“Instead of targeting critical voices, the government of Sokoto state must prioritise addressing poverty, out-of-school children littering the streets of Sokoto, and ending rampant insecurity that had left the eastern part of the state at the mercy of gunmen, with hundreds killed in Isa and Sabon Birnin LGA and thousands displaced.”
Similarly, the Sokoto State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) also condemned Tureta’s arrest, asserting that sharing public videos of a governor is not a crime under Nigerian law.
“We, first of all, wish to draw the attention of the Governor to the fact that the visuals in question must have been recorded by camera men attached to his own office or his family and initially leaked to the public by the same personnel,” said Hassan Sahabi Sanyinnawal, spokesperson for the Sokoto PDP.
“It is also not a crime under Nigerian law to make public videos of the Governor’s public engagements or of events attended by his family, however embarrassing they may be. It is therefore, his task or that of his aides to ensure that such materials do not get to the public arena,” Sanyinnawal added.
The PDP further criticised the Sokoto State Government for what it described as a deteriorating human rights record. “The PDP wishes to caution the Sokoto State Government of its fast-worsening human rights record, occasioned by its notoriety for harassment and assault on dissenting opinions.
“We hereby counsel (Governor) Ahmed Aliyu to turn his energy towards improving on the dismal performance of his regime, rather than the desperate struggle to stifle freedom of expression in the state,” the party statement concluded.
Senator Aminu Tambuwal, who served as the governor of Sokoto from 2015 to 2023, is yet to make a public statement on the arrest of his aide.
He currently represents Sokoto South in the Nigerian Senate.
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