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| Audu Maikori |
Events are reported live by eyewitnesses on the ground, and people are quickly able to make their voices heard through online protests.
In stark contrast, the techniques used by dictators to silence these voices, come straight out of the medieval era.
Friday the 17th of February, Audu Maikori (Lawyer and Boss of Chocolate City record company) was arrested and detained by one such political leader.
The Governor of Kaduna, issued the order via the Magistrates Court, as part of his ongoing directive to arrest, detain and prosecute public commentators on killings carried out by the Islamist Fulani terror group.
Mr Maikori was picked up in Lagos and flown to police headquarters in Abuja. A detention order was issued before his arrest on the basis of a story he reported on social media, which later turned out to be false. (The story, telling of an attack by the Fulani militia, had been re-laid to him by his driver. On discovering it was false, Audu issued a full retraction and apology. But this wasn't enough to save him.)
The actions taken against Maikori are not unusual for the Governor, who routinely abuses his position by suppressing the voices of citizens who speak out on the genocide occurring in Southern Kaduna State.
Maikori was not the only one to report the false story; a journalist also published the driver's account and has also been arrested and detained.
That freedom of speech now appears to be banned under Governor El Rufai, which is profoundly troubling in a nation seeking to become a fully functioning modern democracy.
President Trump of America would no doubt approve, given his current battle against so called "fake news" and his desire to silence anyone who opposes him. However, intelligent, freedom loving people are united in horror and condemnation.
An online protest has now erupted on Twitter, using the #FreeAuduMaikori, and an action group called ‘Concerned Nigerians’ has issued a statement condemning Audu's arrest and demanding his release.
Their statement is given below:
"We condemn the arrest and detention of Mr. Maikori in its entirety. It is a move reminiscent of the dark days of the military era when the instruments of state and the state security apparatus were used as tools with which to clamp down on real and perceived enemies of the state.
The arrest and detention of Mr. Maikori is all the more condemnable once one considers that the Kaduna State government, either wilfully or by sheer inability, have proven completely incapable of bringing a halt to the relentless killings in Southern Kaduna.
To arrest a prominent voice who seeks a peaceful resolution of the killings and a return to normalcy while being unable, or perhaps unwilling, to arrest the perpetrators of the heinous murders in Southern Kaduna lends credence to the narrative that the Federal Government and Kaduna State Government under Mallam El-Rufai are sympathetic to the cause of the perpetrators of these killings.
That this clampdown is being orchestrated by Mallam El-Rufai who enjoyed the rights to freedom of speech during the tenure of the immediate past administration despite making several false, malicious and inciting comments is all the more shocking and ironical.
We call on the Federal Government to immediately release Mr. Maikori without any conditions. We also call on the Kaduna State Government to immediately drop these frivolous and ridiculous charges. They are an affront to all known tenets of democracy and are a throwback to a dark era that is better forgotten.
Finally, we call on the Federal Government, the Kaduna State Government and all the Security agencies, including the DSS, to focus on the far more important and germane task of halting the killings in Southern Kaduna and bringing the perpetrators of those heinous crimes to justice.
Anything less will be viewed for what it is – the abuse of power and the misuse of the apparatus of state to silence important voices that seek to speak up on behalf of the suffering people of Nigeria.
God bless Nigeria."
A country cannot be considered a democracy if any of its citizens are denied the right to freedom of speech, to safety, and to justice. We pray that Audu Maikori, one of Nigeria’s most prominent success stories, will be released without charge.
By using the hashtags #FreeAudu and #FreeAuduMaikori spreading the story as much as possible on social media and blog sites, we can all do our part to unite behind him and against injustice. Men like Audu Maikori are the life blood of a modern and vibrant Nigeria, whereas some Nigerian political leaders wish to keep us stuck in the mindset of a bygone era. It is up to us to stand as one and make it known which option we have chosen.
References:
www.thetrentonline.com/audu-maikori-el-rufai-arrest/
www.thetrentonline.com/concerned-nigerians-audu-maikori/
www.thetrentonline.com/el-rufai-compensation-foreign-fulani
By Jennifer Menzies
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| Jennifer Menzies |
Posted by @pocarlee
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