Atiku Decries Arrest Of IBBUL Student, Says Niger Governor Abusing Power

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has condemned the arrest and prolonged detention of a postgraduate student of the Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai (IBBUL), Abubakar Isah Mokwa, describing it as an abuse of power and a dangerous sign of Nigeria’s shrinking civic space.

Atiku, in a statement personally signed by him on Saturday, said it was disturbing that the student had been detained for over a week simply for expressing his opinion about Niger State Governor Umaru Bago.

“It has come to my attention that Abubakar Isah Mokwa, a postgraduate student of the Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai (IBBUL), has been arrested and detained for over a week for merely expressing his opinion about Governor Umaru Bago of Niger State,” Atiku said.

The former presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said the development reflected the growing intolerance and repression in the country, where citizens’ rights are trampled under the guise of enforcing the Cybercrimes Act.

“This development,” Atiku said, “is both outrageous and unacceptable. It is a dangerous sign of how far our country has descended into intolerance and repression,” where citizens’ rights are “trampled and dissenting voices are silenced under the guise of enforcing the so-called Cybercrimes Act,” he said.

Atiku stressed that defamation was a civil matter and should not be criminalised, warning that the continuous misuse of state power to persecute citizens and critics was eroding Nigeria’s democracy.

He said, “Let it be clear: defamation is a civil matter, not a criminal offence,” he stated. “To weaponise it for political witch-hunts is a betrayal of justice and a grave assault on democracy itself,” he added.

He warned, “The ruling party’s misuse of state power to intimidate citizens, journalists, and the opposition through arbitrary arrests has become a shameful routine that must stop.”

The former Vice President demanded the immediate and unconditional release of Mokwa and others detained under what he described as an “unjust law.”

He called on Nigerians to resist attempts to suppress free speech and civil liberties.

“The continued incarceration of Abubakar Mokwa and others persecuted under this unjust law stands condemned. This tyranny in disguise has no place in a free society,” Atiku said.

“I demand his immediate and unconditional release and urge all well-meaning Nigerians to rise in defence of free speech and civil liberty.”

He also urged lawmakers to review or repeal the Cybercrimes Act, which he said had become a convenient instrument for silencing critics and undermining democratic values.

“Cyberstalking and cyberbullying must never be used as a smokescreen to muzzle critics or suppress truth. Our nation already has adequate laws to address defamation without resorting to such draconian tactics,” he noted.

“I therefore call for the immediate repeal or comprehensive amendment of the Cybercrimes Act, which has become a convenient tool for gagging citizens and waging war against democracy, freedom, and dissent.”

Atiku warned that history would be unkind to leaders who criminalise free expression and truth.

“History will not be kind to those who criminalise truth,” he said.