Yuguda’s alleged house arrest in Bauchi: Group backs Reps’ probe

A pro-democracy group, the Peoples Movement Bauchi (PMB) has endorsed the move by the House of Representatives Committee on Police Affairs to probe an alleged 12-hour house arrest of immediate past governor of Bauchi State, Isa Yuguda, by the state’s Commissioner of Police, describing the incident as sad, crude and barbaric.

Former Governor Yuguda was said to have been put under 12-hour house arrest on November 24 in Bauchi allegedly by the Bauchi State Police Commissioner, Mr. Zaki Ahmed.

The group’s coordinator, Comrade Zakare Ibrahimn said this through a statement made available at the weekend to the Nigerian Tribune by its Head of Communication and Strategy,

PMB further described the incident as an unwarranted provocation and a reckless invitation to mayhem in the state, just as it praised the former governor for displaying uncommon maturity, calmness and statesmanship while the ordeal lasted.

The group urged the House Committee on Police Affairs to leave no stone unturned in getting to the root of the matter and recommend appropriate sanctions to the state’s Police Commissioner and other persons involved in order to serve as a deterrent to other security officers who it said endangered democracy in the country by their intemperate intolerance and insensitivity.

According to Ibrahim, the group’s preliminary inquiry into the incident revealed that the former governor’s alleged mistreatment by the police commissioner in collaboration with the Bauchi State government was a calculated plot to embarrass and humiliate him before a multitude of his supporters in the state who trooped out to welcome him home after more than a year’s absence from the country during which he went to take care of his health and treat an undisclosed ailment.

The group disclosed that after he arrived the country about a month ago to fully recuperate in Abuja, he decided to visit his family and close relations in Bauchi, prompting him to formally seek the approval of the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), the Commandant-General of the National Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) which he got.

While the IGP gave him 10 mobile policemen for his security, the NSCDC asked its Bauchi State director to do same.

The group added that Yuguda, on the eve of his trip, got the assurances of the Assistant Inspector-General of the Police in Bauchi, the state directors of DSS, NSCDC and the commander of the military in the state.

“However, the police commissioner called him very late on that day requesting that the visit be cancelled due to what he called high insecurity in the state.

“Mallam Isa Yuguda immediately sensed foul play especially after hearing that the state government had issued a statement banning all forms of public processions or rallies.

“The former governor said since he was not going for any public procession or political rally so he had nothing to do with the order. So he left for Bauchi on November 24 accompanied by the 10 mobile policemen from the IGP. To his utter shock, neither the Bauchi CP nor his men were at the airport against the IGP’s directive.

“The crowd of supporters at the airport surged and became uncontrollable. The former governor feared for the safety of the surging crowd and while another tumultuous crowd he learnt was eagerly waiting at home, so he drove straight to his house near the Government House where, after many hours the CP suddenly called and asked him to remain in the house.

“Then he asked the CP if he was under house arrest to which he replied in the affirmative. He (Yuguda) pointedly accused the CP of putting him under illegal forceful imprisonment. He then said that the CP could shoot him if he saw him outside his house because as a free citizen, he has right to free movement.

“The next thing he saw was that the CP sent his men to cordon off and barricade his house for many hours until the authorities in Abuja later ordered him to dislodge the barricade and ensure that he escorts him to any part of Bauchi he wished to visit up to the state’s boundary with Plateau State.

“The former governor was forced to be indoors with the IGP’s men who were with him from 10pm on November 24 until 10am the next day when he left for Jos,” the group said.

Expressing sadness and disappointment at what it described as CP Kari Ahmed’s “pliant behaviour and capitulation” to the political weight of the state government, the PMB said that the unfortunate event portended grave danger to democracy and public safety particularly viewed against the clamour for the introduction of state police in the country.

“If a former governor of a state could be so callously and shabbily treated in such precarious circumstances, the danger it poses to the ordinary average Nigerian and the larger society is better imagined.

“This is enough reason to cause fear in our minds. We are in trouble because our nascent democracy is threatened. But for the maturity of the former governor who did the needful to check the huge crowd that received him, it could have resorted to violence and mayhem of unimaginable proportion.

“We fully support the House of Reps in its probe. The likes of CP Kari Ahmed are threats to our democracy; he should be sanctioned by the IGP for gross insubordination. All true lovers of peace should rise up and condemn this barbaric behaviour,” the group said.