by Achadu Gabriel, Kaduna
The arrest and detention of a social critic, activist, whistle blower and business mogul, Muhammad Mahdi Shehu, who is also Chairman Dialogue Computers and Communications in Kaduna, has been confirmed by his lawyers.
Mahdi Shehu’s lawyers and solicitors, M.I. Abubakar, Abubakar Mustapha & Associates, who confirmed the allegations in a statement of arrest issued, signed and made available to newsmen on Tuesday in Kaduna, stated that their client was arrested on “alleged attempt of extortion of N500 million.”
The solicitors explained that their client was arrested and detained in Abuja by the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Monitoring Unit ostensibly on a petition written by the law firm of the immediate past AGF, Abubukar Malami, known as “A.A. Malami, SAN & CO.” for and on behalf of Abubakar Malami (SAN), based on the allegation of extortion.
“Yesterday, 6th February, 2024, in the afternoon, our client, Muhammad Mahdi Shehu, a renowned Kaduna-based social critic/activist, non-commercial whistleblower and successful businessman, was arrested and detained in Abuja by the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Monitoring Unit ostensibly on a petition written by A.A. Malami, SAN & CO. (the law firm of the immediate past Attorney- General of the Federation) for and on behalf of Aubakar Malami, SAN, the said immediate past AGF and his family.
“Although, the petition made allegations of hacking and compromise of emails and bank accounts of the former AGF and some members of his family as well as an attempt to open a fake bank account in the name of a member of the family and extortion of about N20,000,000.00 (twenty million naira) from a member of the family by a syndicate, no mention was made of name of our client, Muhammad Mahdi Shehu, in the petition.
“However, the Police claimed to have arrested Muhammad Mahdi Shehu in his hotel room in Abuja, based on a tip by Abubakar Malami (SAN), relating to an alleged WhatsApp chat between him and Mahdi Shehu, claiming that the latter attempted to extort N500,000,000.00 (five hundred million naira) from him.
“The said allegation by Malami, SAN, and the arrest of our Client, Mahdi Shehu, is coming just a day after he made a tweet on X (formerly Twitter) accusing some prominent members of the Government of former President Muhammadu Buhari from the North of sponsoring a campaign of calumny against OBAZEE, the Special Investigator appointed by President Bola Tinubu to investigate the affairs of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) under the leadership of Godwin Emefiele, in a recent Report in the Daily Trust Newspaper.
“Mahdi Shehu had also in the past few months made publications very critical of some prominent members of the Government of former President Muhammadu Buhari, especially Malami, SAN, and specifically called for his (SAN’s) arrest and prosecution.
“The arrest and detention of our Client may, therefore, not be unconnected with concerted efforts by Malami, SAN, and other prominent members of the Government of former President Mohammedu Buhari, accused by Mahdi Shehu to deal with him for having the temerity to dare them publicly and to silence and put him away from circulation for a long time.
“It will be recalled that our Client, Mahdi Shehu, was similarly arrested and detained twice over long spans of time by the same IGP Monitoring Unit, between 2021 and 2022, over allegations he made against top officials of the Katsina State Government under the leadership of then Governor of the State, Aminu Bello Masari, of corruptly and fraudulently diverting billions of naira belonging to the Katsina State Government under the guise of ‘security spendings.’
“On those occasions, the FCT High Court and the Federal High Court, Abuja Division, found the arrest and detention of Mahdi Shehu unlawful and unconstitutional and respectively awarded N5,000,000.00 (Five Million Naira) and N20,000,000.00 (Twenty Million Naira) to him against the Police for his wrongful arrest and detention.
“While we concede to the right of the Police to investigate any allegation of crime against any citizen, including our Client, we humbly call on the Police to respect the constitutional right of our Client to be released on bail, pending investigation or charged to Court within 24 hours of his arrest regard being had of the fact that there are Courts of competent jurisdiction within Abuja to entertain any charge in respect of the allegations against him (Section 35(5)(a) of the 1999 Constitution).
“We also call on the Police to respect our Client’s right to the dignity of his human person (Section 34(1) of the 1999 Constitution) by affording him decent treatment, while in their custody.
“For the records, our Client denies categorically the allegation of extorting money from MALAMI, SAN, or any member of his family and, indeed, any of the allegations made against him by Malami, SAN, and his Chambers or family,” the statement narrated.