How I was jailed by IBB during Ramadan — Junaidu Muhammad

Former member of House of Representatives Dr Junaidu Muhammad said he was jailed by military regime of Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida without trial for his political activism.

In an interview with the The Guardian at the weekend, the Kano-based politician said “I was sent to jail without any trial during Babangida’s regime and up till today nobody has told me what I did. They took me to Owo in Ondo State during the month of Ramadan, while I was fasting for nearly three months.”

Dr Muhammad was speaking on the criticisms by IBB and former President Olusegun Obasanjo against President Muhammadu Buhari’s resolve to seek a second term next year.

“I have also had problems with Obasanjo, even before I resigned from public service to join politics over his attempt to jail my colleague, Hamidu Ali, the man who had a gun in the House of Representatives, but that is neither here nor there,” he said.

He said what they said on Buhari “was the truth. The nepotism they mentioned, I also talked about over two years ago.”

He said he wasn’t surprised that some people are clamoring for Buhari’s return despite his poor performance. 

“Every president we’ve had in this country, every heads of government, as well as heads of state have been told they were special persons, that nobody else can govern the country, and as such they should continue, as such without them, the country couldn’t move on. 

“I am not surprised it is happening to Buhari and I am not surprised he is putting his personal ambition over and above the country’s interest. It is so unfortunate that Buhari and the cabals have found themselves in the same shoes as their predecessors and it will end in tragedy,” he said.

Speaking on the appointment of security chiefs, the politician said: “The issue at stake over the appointment of the DG NIA and DG SSS is not wrong because they are from the same state, but because they did not meet the laid down guideline and they were also deficient in terms of their qualifications and the cognate experience in their places of work.

“There is also the issue of never appointing somebody to supersede people who are better, unless you want to destroy an organisation. You don’t allow it in any system. In the case of the DG SSS, who had already retired from service years ago, he was brought back and made the DG SSS. That was improper, unusual and is very devastating to morale. I like him. He used to be a director in Kano and is a personal friend because we used to get on well, and I still like him, but unfortunately, his problem is that he believes he is a politician and he is not. He is a security technocrat. So, if he behaves like he knows too much of politics, he will end up in disaster.

“In the case of the newly-appointed DG NIA Ahmed Abubakar, who is also from Katsina, the man clearly did not measure up when he was in service. He failed his exams. There is nothing he can do about it. He had to go because they have a hierarchical system, just like in the Army. If you don’t pass the Captain to Major exams, they ask you to go. To make matters worse, they now picked him and made him boss over those that sat with him for the same exams and passed. The most senior director, who should have been appointed. He was the one that acted.”