Audu Maikori, a Nigerian lawyer and CEO of
Chocolate City Entertainment, has been arrested by the police. The arrest is
linked to his tweets about a fatal attack on his relatives in Southern Kaduna
that turned out to be false, his lawyer said Friday.
Mark Jacobs told
PREMIUM TIMES that Mr. Maikori,
41, was arrested in Lagos around noon Friday by a team of police officers
attached to inspector-general monitoring and intelligence team and was
immediately transferred to the Force Headquarters in Abuja.
“I arrived at the Force Headquarters and learnt
that a detention order has already been signed for him,” Mr. Jacobs said of his
client. “I am not sure he will be released tonight.”
Mr. Jacobs said he was told by the police that a
magistrate issued warrant for Mr. Maikori’s arrest and are planning to charged
him with attempt to “incite” the public.
Police spokesman, Jimoh Moshood, did not
immediately respond to PREMIUM TIMES’ requests for comments Friday night.
The arrest of Mr. Maikori, a vocal advocate for the
plight of residents of the restive area, came nearly four weeks after he narrated an
attack that purportedly took place in Southern Kaduna.
In a series of tweets on
January 23, Mr. Maikori said his driver, later identified as Simon Joseph, told
him that he lost his brother in a Fulani herdsmen ambush in Southern Kaduna and
will be travelling for burial.
“My driver’syounger brother and five others
students of college of education Gidan Waya were ambushed and killed by
herdsmen yesterday #SouthernKaduna.
“They were in a commercial
car going back to school when the driver stopped suddenly under the pretext of
checking his engine #SouthernKaduna.
“As soon as the car stopped
the attackers shot all 6 students but let the driver who is Fulani go. He gave
us these details#SouthernKaduna.
“When we speak we are
viewed as trouble makers by the Govt. Well I have seen the pictures and it’s a
painful sight#SouthernKaduna,” Mr. Social media users became
livid after Mr. Maikori’s vivid naration of the purported attack.
The tweets were later picked up by some Nigerian
newspaperswithout further checks.
Two days later, Kaduna
State College of Education in Gidan Waya, where Mr. Maikori said the students
were schooling, issued a statement denying any loss of students to an attack as
described by Mr. Maikori.
The Kaduna State Government
condemned the misinformation and the reporter responsible for the story in
Vanguard Newspaper was arrested and charged.
On February 4, following
intense criticism on social media, Mr. Maikori retracted and apologised for posting the tweets in
a lenghty article that also offered detailed explanation of how he was misled
by Mr. Joseph.
“I hereby tender an
unreserved and sincere apology to the Management of the College of Education,
Gidan Waya, His Excellency the Governor of Kaduna State and the Kaduna State
Government, and also to the people of Southern Kaduna and the Fulani community
and also VANGUARD newspapers whose source was my driver for the false statement
by my driver which I also publicized believing same to be true,” Mr. Maikori
wrote.
Mr. Jacob said Mr.
Maikori’s driver was arrested a few days ago in Lagos, and had remained in
detention ever since.
Mr. Maikori’s arrest caused
social media buzz late Friday, with a prominent human rights activist and legal
expert, Chidi Odinkalu, calling for his immediate release.
Mr. Odinkalu, a former
Chairman of National Human Rights Commission, was among the first to raise
alarm about Mr. Audu’s arrest Friday night.
“They should immediately
release him because he had apologised for the tweets and I don’t think the
matter is a criminal offence that warrants him being locked up for so many
days,” Mr. Odinkalu told PREMIUM TIMES by telephone.
Over 200 have been killed
and thousands more displaced in the latest violence between Fulani herdsmen and
southern Kaduna residents.
A curfew Governor Nasir
el-Rufai imposed in Zangon Kataf was relaxed last week.
Mr. El-Rufai said the
attackers were herdsmen from neighbouring countries who had returned to avenge
attacks on their relatives and livestock back in 2011.
The governor came under
fire after admitting he had sent payments to the attackers to compensate for
their losses, as part of efforts by his government to end the bloodshed.
A foundation laid by the
Nigerian Army for the construction of a military base in the area was destroyed last week.
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