A Fulani social and cultural organisation, Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, has condemned the continued detention of its National Leader, Abdullahi Bodejo, who was arrested by a security agency on Tuesday, January 23.
Rising from a meeting on Sunday in Mararaba town in Karu LGA of Nasarawa State, the group described the detention as a violation of his constitutional rights.
Addressing a press conference, the North Central Chairman of the organisation, Gidado Idris Bebeji, lamented that neither Bodejo’s family nor his group’s members had so far been allowed to access him or told about the reason for the arrest.
He said, “We are deeply concerned with the turn of events. Nigeria’s constitution demands that a suspect should be presented before a court within 48 hours.”
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Giving account of how he was arrested, Bebeji said that soldiers from the 177 Guards Battalion in Keffi, Nasarawa State, raided their national headquarters at the Maliya Cattle Market, off the Abuja-Keffi highway, and led Bodejo into their van and headed towards Abuja around 4pm.
He noted that the commander of the battalion thereafter confirmed and justified the arrest, insisting that it was coming after the leader’s refusal to honour an invitation earlier in the day.
He explained that, “His failure to honour the invitation was a result of his health condition on the day. And before he got a chance, they went to the office and left with him. In such circumstances, his family and group members should be allowed to meet him in order to know about the state of his health condition.’’
Also speaking, the group’s Provost Marshal, Sulaiman Abdullahi, faulted a claim relating the arrest to the recent forming of the group’s vigilante group.
He said, “That can’t be the justification as it has been duly registered and launched in the presence of the security agencies in the state. The main objective of the group is to complement the government’s efforts in fighting security challenges plaguing the country.’’
Abdullahi, therefore, urged Northern groups like the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) to wave into the matter.
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