PDP To DSS: The Polity Is Already Overheated, Release Dadiyata Now
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has called for the immediate release of a social activist and staunch supporter of the party, Abubakar Idris, popularly known as Abu Hanifa Dadiyata, who was said to have been arrested by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) last week Friday.
THE WHISTLER reports that there have been speculations on social media that Dadiyata was “abducted” by operatives of the DSS last week. The Service is yet to speak on the allegations.
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“If @dadiyata was arrested by the DSS or police, they have a constitutional duty to let him contact his lawyers and family,” a Twitter user Audu Bulama Bukarti (@bulamabukarti) had said on Twitter.
The PDP, in a statement by its national spokesperson, Kola Ologbondiyan, on Thursday, challenged the Service to address the allegations that its men violently arrested the social activist, warning that “the polity is already overheated and any delay in the release of Dadiyata is capable of triggering further aggressions in our polity.”
“The DSS cannot continue to keep quiet on the issue since there are already claims in the news media and the public space that its men participated in the abduction allegedly on the behest of interests affiliated to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
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“More so, Mr. Idris is known for his fierce criticism of anti-people policies of the APC and its administration, particularly in Kano state,” said the opposition party.
The PDP expressed concern over reports that Dadiyata’s arrest was in connection with his criticism of the ruling APC in Kano state.
The allegations that the DSS may be responsible for the activist’s arrest had been premised on recent similar arrests made by the Service.
The DSS had arrested the publisher of Sahara Reporters over an alleged “RevolutionNow” protest he promoted on social media.
A former political editor of Daily Trust and supposed critic of President Muhammadu Buhari, Ibrahim Dan-Halilu, had also been arrested by the Service for supporting the protest on Facebook.
