A student of Bayero University Kano (BUK), Yahuza Tijjani, has been remanded in prison for criticising a state lawmaker, Kabiru Is’mail, on Facebook.
Yahuza is in his second year at the Department of Science and Technology Education while Is’mail represents Madobi state constituency at the state assembly.
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His brother, Murtala, told Premium Times that Yahuza has been held since he was arrested by the police in Madobi Local Government Area on September 30.
According to Murtala, his brother was held in police detention for seven days before being jailed by the magistrate.
In the Facebook post, Yahuza criticised the lawmaker in Hausa without mentioning his name.
“You know he’s not well educated, as a result of which he doesn’t know how to calculate figures. He said 1230, he later said 1500 and at the ended saying 2000,” he said.
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“I pray to God almighty that the election petition tribunal [will] declare the election of state’s assembly member representing Madobi as inconclusive,” Yahuza wrote in another post.
The undergraduate, according to his brother, came under attack on Facebook for his comments by a group loyal to the lawmaker.
Murtala said their family was more concerned that Yahuza might be “expelled from the university for missing the whole semester examination while being in jail.”
Magistrate Aminu Gabari of Court 72 in Noman’s Land, Fagge LGA, refused Yahuza bail on arraignment after being charged with defamation of character.
The magistrate was said to have granted the BUK undergraduate bail on strict conditions a week later which the family were unable to meet.
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Murtala added that they were denied access to the state’s chief judge whom the magistrate told them was now in charge of the case.
The lawmaker, however, told the news platform on Tuesday that he reported the undergraduate to the authorities because he felt offended by the Facebook post.
