Nigerian Senate President, Bukola Saraki, has said that the arrest and detention of activist, Deji Adeyanju, has presented Nigeria’s “democracy in bad light” and a recession to “the period of military rule”
“The way the matter has been handled and the last decision of the Magistrate Court to remand the young man in prison till after the conclusion of the 2019 Polls has presented our democracy in bad light,” Saraki said.
“We are now looking like a country that has receded to the period of military rule,” he added.
Saraki’s comments came few days after a Chief Magistrate’s Court in Kano remanded political activist, Deji Adeyanju, in prison until February next year, after taking his plea and concluding that it lacked jurisdiction to hear murder charges against him.
Adeyanju was arrested by the Police on December 13 and accused him of being complicit in a murder case from the 2000s. After a review of the case, Adeyanju was discharged and acquitted of the said offence by the Kano State High Court, following a lengthy trial that lasted between 2005 and 2009.
The Police in Abuja held Adeyanju in detention without charges for five days before moving him to Kano earlier this week and arraigned him on December 19 before Justice Hassan Fagge, who ordered his remand and scheduled yesterday for a bail hearing.
But Saraki maintained that president Muhammadu Buhari needed to intervene to find out whether the current travail of Adeyanju has anything to do with his frequently expressed viewpoints against the Federal Government.
He also urged the president to note that “prior to the coming to office of this government, those of us in opposition, the APC, freely criticized the Goodluck Jonathan government and flayed their actions and statements without any attempt by the administration to stifle opposing views.”
The senate president, therefore, advised the President should “not allow the excesses and over-zealousness of some security agents to give his government a bad name.”
It is obvious that this case is purely political and not about any judicial action. I also call on all human rights protection groups to wade into this matter and ensure we do not watch helplessly as the rights of a citizen are being trampled upon,” Saraki said.
