By Muhammed Shaeed
August 26th, 2024
The arrest of Shafi’u Tureta, a Special Assistant on Media to Senator Aminu Tambuwal by policemen on Sunday has been utterly condemned by Peoples Democratic Party in Sokoto state.
In a statement made available to the newsmen by its spokesperson, Hassan Sanyinnawal, it alleged that the arrest was the order of Gov. Ahmed Aliyu.
The statement read, “We, first of all, wish to draw the attention of the governor to the fact that the visuals in question must have been recorded by cameramen attached to his own office or his family and initially leaked to the public by the same personnel.
“It is also not a crime under Nigerian law to make public, videos of the governor’s public engagements or events attended by his family, however embarrassing they may be.
It is, therefore, the governor’s task or that of his aides to ensure that such materials do not get to the public arena.
“PDP wishes to caution the Sokoto State Government of its fast worsening human rights record, occasioned by its notoriety for harassment and assault on dissenting opinion.
“We hereby, counsel the governor to turn his energy towards improving on the dismal performance of his regime, rather than the desperate struggle to stifle freedom of expression in the state.
“The PDP demands the immediate, unconditional release of Shafi’u Umar Tureta and a final stop to the brutality meted by the Sokoto State Government on citizens for simply exercising their constitutional right criticizing bad governance and unbecoming conduct by those in power in the state”