The People’s Democratic Party in Sokoto State has condemned in the strongest terms, the arrest of Shafi’u Umar Tureta, a Special Assistant to Senator Aminu Tambuwal by Police earlier on Sunday.
The party in a statement made available to our correspondent by its spokesman, Hassan Sanyinnawal, alleged that the arrest of Tureta was on the order of the governor, Dr Ahmed Aliyu.
The statement reads, “Our Party understands that Tureta was arrested on the orders of the Sokoto State Governor, Ahmed Aliyu for sharing a viral video clip of the Governor struggling to make a statement in English Language and another equally nationally well-circulated clip of cash spray at the Governor’s wife’s birthday party.
“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.
“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, the governor’s task or that of his aides to ensure that such materials do not get to the public arena”.
The statement further said, ” 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 opinion.
“We hereby, counsel the governor 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 PDP demands the immediate, unconditional release of Shafi’u Umar Tureta and a final stop to the brutality meted by the Sokoto State Government on citizens for simply exercising their constitutional right to criticizing bad governance and unbecoming conduct by those in power in the state”
Meanwhile, efforts to get the reaction of the Nigerian Police Force, Sokoto State command on the reasons behind the alleged arrest were not successful as the spokesman of the command, ASP Ahmed Rufai, could not be reached as at the time of filing this report.
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