Human rights lawyer, Monday Ubani has criticised the wife of the President, Mrs Aisha Buhari over the reported arrest of Aminu Adamu for an alleged derogatory post on social media.
According to him, many Nigerians flayed Mrs Patience Jonathan during her husband’s tenure as Nigeria’s President from 2010 to 2015 but she didn’t arrest any of her detractors.
Ubani, who is the Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association Section on Public Interest and Development Law (SPIDEL) spoke on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme on Thursday.
He urged public officeholders and their spouses to be tolerant because people will always criticise them and their actions.
“The former President’s wife, Mrs Jonathan goes viral every time, she was called names (but) we never heard a situation where she ordered security agencies to arrest any person.
“As a public officer, you have to be tolerant, if you don’t have tolerance, you will need to arrest everyone because immediately they criticise you, the next thing is that you order the police or the DSS (Department of State Services) to arrest them,” Ubani said.
Although the police have denied arresting Adamu, the Federal University Dutse in Jigawa State and his parents confirmed that the student was arrested for making an alleged derogatory post about Mrs Buhari on social media.
Ubani, who said his team is working on the case, said, “The arrest was at the instance of the President’s wife and that has not been denied. He (Adamu) was secretly arraigned yesterday (Wednesday) and is now in a correctional centre and that has not been denied.
“I think that what has been said that the President’s wife has added some flesh, if you look at the woman when she came, she was looking slimmer but today, she has added flesh and that is the truth.”
The lawyer said the President’s wife should have asked the police to invite and interrogate Adamu in a civilised manner if she felt offended. “We cannot use a sledgehammer to kill a fly,” he noted.
Ubani said he used to appreciate Mrs Buhari because she tried to “side the masses but this act of hers, I condemn it unequivocally”.
“It is absolutely wrong, she has to release that young man. That is the only way we can forgive Mrs Aisha Buhari,” he said.
He stressed that the student must be released before Monday to commence his final-year examination.
Adamu, a final year student in the Department of Environmental Management and Taxocology, at the Federal University Dutse, Jigawa, was alleged to have made the post criticising Mrs Buhari. He was reportedly arrested in November.
Neither the President’s wife nor the Presidency has commented on the matter as of press time.
Meanwhile, the reported arrest of Adamu has caused a social media storm with thousands of users calling for his release. Also, global rights group, Amnesty International has demanded the student’s release.