By Gabriel Atumeyi
Weeks back, the Department of State Security Service (DSS), arrested and detained Salihu Tanko Yakassai, son of elder statesman, Tanko Yakassai, who was at the time a media aide to Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State.
Also known as Dawisu, his arrest came hours after he made a social media post relating to the abduction of more than 300 female students in Zamfara State.
Salihu had called on the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government to either deal decisively with bandits in the country or resign his position as President and Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces.
He spoke on Friday, February 26, while reacting to the abduction which occurred at Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe in Talata Mafara Local Government Area.
According to him, the fact that the development came about a week after bandits also abducted some schoolboys in Kagara, Niger State, showed that the government had failed its primary responsibility, and so the All Progressives Congress-led government could not continue to lament when tragedy occurs without taking any action to prevent a repeat.
He wrote on Twitter: “Clearly, we as APC government, at all levels, have failed Nigerians in the number 1 duty we were elected to do which is to secure lives & properties. Not a single day goes by without some insecurity in this land. This is a shame! Deal with terrorists decisively or resign.”
His words earned him a stay at the DSS facility, even though the foremost government security agency declared he was arrested for issues beyond freedom of expression.
The junior Yakassai’s case highlights the fate of vocal critics of the administration of Muhammadu Buhari, it seems.
Amidst the growing insecurity in the country, aggrieved citizens who feel the President is not doing enough have been expressing their anger mostly through social media platforms, with security agencies refusing to see it as a constitutional right.
In May last year, three men were arrested by the police in Katsina State over a viral video on social media in which they expressed dissatisfaction with the way President Buhari and Governor Aminu Masari of Katsina were handling the security situation in the state.
Lawal Abdullahi Izala, 70; Bahajaje Abu, 30 and Hamza Abubakar, 27, all of Gafai Quarters of the state were said to have ‘’violated the scared laws of the land’’ by their vocal disposition.
Speaking on the arrest of the trio, the state’s Commissioner of Police said the command was only carrying out its legitimate duty. In his reaction, he declared, “To this end, the command wishes to warn members of the general public that the police will not fold its arms and watch while disgruntled elements violate the sacred laws of the land.
“Any person found taking undue advantage of the social media to insult others, contrary to the provisions of the Cyber Crime Act, will face the wrath of the law.”
Weeks later, on June 17, 2020, the same police in Katsina detained Nastura Ashir Sharif, leader of the Coalition of Northern Group (CNG), for organising a peaceful protest in Katsina over the rising insecurity across the state, the North West and Nigeria at large.
The youth group had declared that the federal government and the North West state governors had failed to tackle the spate of killings by bandits in the region.
Nastura was, however, released after 48 hours in police detention.
In a related development, on Friday, February 26, 2021, the Police in Abuja arrested a famous anti-Buhari social media commentator, Somtochukwu Onuchukwu, known by the Twitter handle, “Chosen Sumto” at his home in Kubwa. He was then taken away by the officers at about 11:30am, following an initial standoff of about 25 minutes.
The clampdown on dissent is coming few months after the Federal Government mulled the regulation of social media in order to stem dissent against the Buhari administration in the aftermath of the #EndSARS protest that gripped the nation.
Concerned about the seeming attempt to gag the citizens from anti-government commentary, Aisha Yesufu, a co-founder of the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) movement and a vocal voice in the #EndSARS movement, said in a chat with 365Daily that the clampdown on dissenting views over rising insecurity was “abominable, condemnable and absolutely wrong in every sense.”
She stated: “The government had no right in anyway whatsoever to have arrested Saliu Tanko Yakassai, also known as Dawisu. He is a citizen, he is not a slave and as a citizen, he has a right to call out the incompetence, the cluelessness, the inefficiency and failure of this government.
“This whole issue of DSS going about arresting people who are calling out an incompetent government has to stop. That is not democracy. The rule of law does not allow that. We are in a democracy, we have a right to speak and even protest, and we would continue to call out the incompetence, the cluelessness, the corruption, the ineptitude and failure of Buhari’s government.
“And the DSS should understand that they are supposed to be in the business of intelligence gathering and arresting those who are terrorising the nation, and not intimidating citizens who are simply demanding for the right thing to be done,” Yesufu added.
Also speaking to 365Daily, Aristotle Ariyo, a rights activist and public affairs commentator, said clamping down on opposing voices is a pointer to the contradictory nature of President Muhammadu Buhari’s government.
He said: “What we are witnessing in Nigeria is a total collapse of our leadership response under the Buhari administration. And when the leadership no longer has the capacity to address problems and challenges, what they usually resort to is clampdown on dissenting voices, as we have seen in recent times, as we saw in the instance of the former media aide of Governor Abdullahi Ganduje who was detained after criticising President Buhari.
”The implication of this is that government has become intolerant and excessive because of lack of capacity and will to address problems, and it is going to get worse because the situation that is currently going on is going to hurt more northerners with more members of the APC coming out to dissociate and distance themselves from the Buhari administration.’’