Nigerian student sent to jail for criticising lawmaker on Facebook

A magistrate court in Kano has remanded a student
of Bayero University Kano over a Facebook post
criticising a state lawmaker.
Yahuza Tijjani, a second-year student in the
Department of Science and Technology Education,
has been held since September 30 after he was
arrested by the police in Madobi Local Government
Area, his brother, Murtala Tijjani, told PREMIUM
TIMES.
Mr Tijjani said his younger brother spent seven
days at the Police ‘Zone 1’ regional headquarters in
Kano and the state criminal investigation
department before he was sent to jail by the
magistrate.
The lawmaker, Kabiru Is’mail, and the Tijjanis are
natives of Madobi Local Government Area. A group
loyal to the lawmaker had earlier attacked the
student, Mr Tijjani, on Facebook, the brother said.
“We are more concerned that the student may be
expelled from the university for missing the whole
semester examination while being in jail,” he said.
“We fear that he would continue being in jail as we
have exhausted seeing all the personalities we
know yet we cannot secure his released.”
In the Facebook post seen by PREMIUM TIMES, Mr
Tijjani, in an apparent reference to the lawmaker
who he did not mention by name, said in Hausa,
“You know he’s not well educated, as a result of
which he doesn’t know how to calculate figures. He
said 1230, he later said 1500 and at the ended
saying 2000.”
In another post, Mr Tijjani said, “I pray to God
almighty that the election petition tribunal [will]
declare the election of state’s assembly member
representing Madobi as inconclusive”.
The Court
The brother also narrated how Mr Tijjani was
denied bail and sent to jail on day one after he was
charged with defamation of character before the
magistrate, Aminu Gabari of Court 72 in Noman’s
Land in Fagge local government area.
He said a week later the judge granted Mr Tijjani
bail on strict conditions they were unable to meet.
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“Whenever the judge slated time for the case, he
wouldn’t come, this makes us suspicious that the
judiciary, the last hope for Mr Tijjani has been
compromised,” he said. “The last time we saw the
judge he told us that the case has been transferred
to the office of the state’s chief judge; there’s nothing he can do
about it. We rushed to the Ministry of Justice to see the chief judge;
we were denied access to him.”
When contacted, the lawmaker representing Madobi state
constituency, Kabiru Isma’il, told PREMIUM TIMES Tuesday that the
student offended him through the Facebook post and he reported the
matter to the authorities.
He said no human would allow the offender to walk free without
taking appropriate measures.
“I was offended, instead of taking the law into my hand, I decided
to invite the police because I don’t have the power to arrest,” Mr
Isma’il said.