Barely 72 hours before the planned nationwide protest by the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Aisha Buhari, Nigeria’s first lady, has withdrawn the case against a final-year student of the Federal University, Dutse, Aminu Adamu.
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) recalls Adamu, 24, was arrested by the police in Dutse for allegedly publishing a defamatory statement on his Twitter handle against Mrs Buhari.
In the allegedly offending tweet, Adamu, who is studying Environmental Management, posted a rotund picture of the first lady with a caption in Hausa saying, “Mama is feeding fat on poor people’s money. The tweet was posted on June 8, 2022.
After nearly two weeks in detention and alleged torture, he was arraigned on Tuesday before Justice Yusuf Halilu of the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Maitama, where he pleaded not guilty and was remanded at Suleja prison in Niger State.
But withdrawing the case against the accused on Friday, the prosecution counsel, Fidelis Ogbobe said the First Lady as the mother of the nation decided to withdraw the case, following the intervention of well-meaning Nigerians.
He relied on Section 108 subsection 2(a) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act to move the application for the withdrawal of the case.
Ruling on the matter, Justice Yusuf Halilu of the FCT High Court commended Mrs Buhari for taking the “bold steps” to forgive the accused.
He called on parents to always monitor their children to avoid recurrence.
TNG also recalls that the national body of Nigerian students had given the first lady till Monday or face a nationwide protest by the students.
