The claims that the Department of State Service, DSS, whisked away a final-year student of the Federal University of Dutse, Jigawa State, on the directive of Nigeria’s first lady, Aisha Buhari, over a Twitter post he made about her, are false.
This is according to a PRNigeria fact-check, which also revealed that the university student, Aminu Adamu Muhammed was arrested by the Nigeria Police and would soon be arraigned in the court, for an alleged defamation of Aisha Buhari.
Towards unearthing the facts behind the claims, an online search by PRNigeria revealed that SaharaReporters and People’s Gazette claimed that officials Department of State Service, DSS arrested a final-year student of the Federal University of Dutse on the directive of Aisha Buhari over a post he made about her.
To verify the claim of the arrest PRNigeria reached out to a security personnel at the University who said that the student was arrested by plain-clothed police operatives.
The security guard said: “The student was picked up by police operatives on November 18th at about 3pm at the hostel of the Federal University of Dutse called Shekarau Anguwan.”
PRNigeria gathered that the Bauchi-born Mohammed is a student of Environmental Management at the Federal University, Dutse and will be writing his exams on December 5th, 2022.
Amnesty International Abuja has strongly condemned the arrest and called for his immediate release. They vowed that all those who subjected the young student to torture and other human rights violations will be brought to justice.
Speaking to Freedom Radio, his uncle, Baba Shehu said that Muhammad made the post out of frustration when Aisha Buhari posted pictures of her children who graduated from a foreign university amidst the strike.
“Aminu phoned his father and told him what happened to him. He told his father that he was arrested, beaten up by the police, and taken to the first lady.
“Aminu told us that he was arrested because of a post about Aisha Buhari…we agree that Aminu was wrong but she should seek justice through proper means…”
A top police officer who doesn’t want his name in press told PRNigeria that Muhammed was arrested and handed over to the police command in the Federal Capital Territory.
“The suspect in our custody was arrested for an offence he committed and he will soon be arraigned in an Abuja court,” the senior police officer said.
PRNigeria therefore concluded that the claim that the student was arrested by the DSS is FALSE. He is currently in the custody of the police in Abuja for arraignment over an allegation of defamation.
