November 30, (THEWILL) – A student of the Federal University, Dutse, Jigawa, who was arrested for trolling Nigeria’s First Lady, Aisha Buhari, on Twitter, has been remanded in the Suleja correctional facility in Niger State.
The student, identified as Aminu Adamu, hails from Azare in Bauchi state. He is a final-year student of the Department of Environmental Management.
Adamu was remanded on Tuesday, after he was charged to court by the police, according to his lawyer, C.K Agu.
He was reportedly arrested and detained by agents of the First Lady, following his Twitter post.
Agu told BBC Hausa Service that Adamu was arraigned in a court in Abuja, but pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The lawyer said they have made several efforts since 25th November to get the student released on bail but to no avail.
“Even in yesterday’s court session, we informed the judge that we requested the police to grant Aminu bail in time.
“Therefore, we requested the court to grant him bail on the grounds of ill health and that he will start school exams on December 5. And now the court has ordered the police force to present the bail request which was filed urgently so that the court can hear the request today or tomorrow”, Agu said.
The Socio-economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), vowed to challenge the Federal Government in court.
“The Buhari administration must immediately and unconditionally release Aminu Muhammad, a student of the Federal University, Dutse, who is reportedly arrested over a post on Twitter allegedly criticising the first lady. We’ll see in court if he’s not immediately released”, SERAP tweeted.
