The global human rights organisation, Amnesty International has called on the Nigerian government to immediately and unconditionally release 23-year-old Aminu Adamu Muhammed from detention, where he is being held for his tweet against the first lady, Aisha Buhari.
Muhammed, a final-year student in the Department of Environmental Management and Toxicology, Federal University Dutse, Jigawa State, in June 2022 posted on Twitter that Mrs Buhari had grown fat from feeding off the poor masses.
Muhammed had written in Hausa: “Su mama anchi kudin talkawa ankoshi”, which could be translated as “the mother has got fatter by eating masses’ money.”
However, few months after his tweet, on November 8, the 23-year-old Muhammed was picked up by operatives of the Department of State Services on campus and was reportedly beaten up and has been in detention since then.
But in a statement published on its website, the Amnesty International said, “His family and friends alleged that he was held incommunicado and subjected to severe beating, torture and other forms of ill-treatment.
“Since his arrest neither his family nor his lawyers have had access to him.
“There are strong suspicions that Aminu is being held in an unknown location in Abuja by Nigerian security operatives.
“Amnesty International calls on the authorities to release him from unlawful detention and ensure that all those suspected of torture and other violations against him are brought to justice. #FreeAminuAdamuMuhammed.”
