The former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has condemned the arrest and continued detention of Abubakar Isah Mokwa, a postgraduate student of Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai (IBBUL), describing it as “dangerous sign of growing intolerance and repression” in Nigeria.
In a statement posted on his Facebook page on Saturday, Atiku said Mokwa had been detained for over a week “merely for expressing his opinion” about Niger State Governor, Umaru Bago. “This development is both outrageous and unacceptable,” he stated. “It is a dangerous sign of how far our country has descended into intolerance and repression, where citizens’ rights are trampled and dissenting voices silenced under the guise of enforcing the Cybercrimes Act.”
The former Vice President said authorities have turned what should have been an objective instrument of the law, the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act, against critics and political opponents when, in reality, defamation was a civil and not criminal issue. “To weaponise it for political witch-hunts is a betrayal of justice and a grave assault on democracy itself,” he added.
Atiku went further to criticise what he described as “the ruling party’s misuse of state power to intimidate citizens, journalists, and the opposition through arbitrary arrests,” calling it a “shameful routine that must stop.”
He demanded Mokwa’s immediate and unconditional release and called on Nigerians to defend the right to free speech and civil liberties. “Stalking and cyberbullying must at no time be used as a smokescreen to muzzle critics or suppress truth,” he said, demanding the repeal or comprehensive amendment of the Cybercrimes Act.
Atiku closed with a warning that “history will not be kind to those who criminalise truth.”
His comments follow growing outrage from civil society groups, including the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) which has also demanded Mokwa’s release on the grounds that authorities violated his constitutional right to freedom of expression.
