50 civil society organisations are challenging the Kano Police Command over an obvious hot pursuit the command has mounted to get at a Kaduna based Barrister for a yet to be declared infraction. The civil society coalition wading into the issue think the police must be looking for the Kaduna lawyer on account of what they are calling a short audio clip which had said that the Kano Governor was trying to make money out of the Covid-19 program. That was at the onset of the pandemic but the video went viral and did not sit well with the governor or his supporters and, hence, the inference that this is, obviously, a payback operation with the governor operating from behind.
Trouble started for Saida last Wednesday, September 16th, 2020 around 5pm when a group of men and women in mufti banged on the door of her matrimonial home in Kaduna, claiming they were policemen from Kano who had been sent to Kaduna to arrest her, take her to Kano for interrogation and prosecution for defamation against the Kano State Government.
The account in the statement by the coalition of civil society organisations demanding a stop to the harassment said the policemen arrived in an unmarked bus and silver colored Honda car, led by one Zainab, an ASP of Police. But the Barrister refused coming out of the house, much less following them, arguing that position on the spate of kidnappings in the country and the fact that the team had no arrest warrant. Eventually, they were persuaded to leave but only to return, Friday, September 18th, 2020 about 1.15 pm when most men had gone to the mosque.
This time, it was understood, they came with an arrest warrant, forced their way into the house asking for Sa’ida and intimidating the house hold, taking pictures of plate numbers of the cars in the house, etc. But they eventually left especially as the person they were looking for was not in the house.
The statement is volunteering Barrister Sai’da Saad’s willingness and readiness for any charges the Kano State Government might frame against her but only “as long as correct procedure is followed”.
The civil society organisations are asking questions on the issue, such as on what authority the police personnel left their jurisdiction in Kano to arrest someone in Kaduna and why state governors feel empowered to use police officials to go to different states in the country to arrest their critics.
The police in Kano has acknowledge complaint and initiated investigation into the case by the civil society organisations, with the Tracking No is .#CRU848116. But the Kano State Command is demanding for more contact details from either the complainant or any lead to aid the investigation as the PPRO declared ignorance of the matter.
Among the civil society organisations involved are:
- Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD)
- Centre for Democratic Research and Training (CRDDERT)
- Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC)
- Women In Media
- Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD)
- Organization for Community Civic(OCCEN)
- Zero-Corruption Coalition (ZCC)
8 Accountability Maternal New-born and Child Health in Nigeria (AMHiN)
- Partners on Electoral Reform
- African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL)
- National Procurement Watch Platform
- Say NO Campaign—Nigeria
- Resource Centre for Human Rights and Civil Education (CHRICED)
- Social Action
- Community Action for Popular Participation
- Borno Coalition for Democracy and Progress (BOCODEP)
- Global Rights
- Alliance for Credible Elections (ACE)
- Youth Initiative for Advocacy, Growth & Advancement (YIAGA)
20 . Tax Justice and Governance Platform
- Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth, Nigeria
- Women In Nigeria
- African Centre for Leadership, Strategy & Development (Centre LSD
24.Women Advocate Research And Documentation Centre
26.Community Life Project
27.Nigerian Feminist Forum
28.Alliances for Africa
- Spaces for Change
30.Nigerian Women Trust Fund
31.Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa
- BudgiT Foundation
- State of the Union (SOTU)
34.Basic Rights Action
35.Femi Falana Chamber
36.Conscience for Human Rights and Conflict Resolution
37.Kano Civil Society Forum
- Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre(RULAAC)
- Network for Development Foundation (NDF)Kano
- Professor Jibrin Ibrahim Senior Fellow Centre for Democracy and Development, Abuja
- Project Alert
- Order Paper
- Media Rights Agenda
- Centre for Labour Studies
- Hauwa Shekarau Chamber
- Partners West Africa
- International Press Centre
- Women’sRights Advancement and Protection Alternative,(WRAPA)
- Socio Economic Rights & Accountability (SERAP)
