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EFCC detention of blogger: PDP says Buhari has no respect for human rights

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The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has decried the continuous detention of a blogger, Abubakar Sidiqu Usman, accusing President Muhammadu Buhari of lacking respect for human rights.

Usman, who is also known as Abisiduqu, was arrested by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) operatives early Monday morning for allegedly stalking the commission’s Chairman, Ibrahim Magu.

EFCC confirmed his arrest in a statement issued by its spokesman, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, saying that “The EFCC today arrested Mr. Abubakar Sidiqu Usman, a blogger, for offences bordering on cyber stalking.”

But the PDP, angered by the arrest, took to its twitter handle on Tuesday to decry the arrest and continuous detention of the blogger by the EFCC.

The party said, “We are deeply concerned about the arrest and detention of Mr AbuSidiq, a popular blogger by official s of EFCC for more than 30 hours.

“While he has been granted administrative bail, he is still in custody as a result of the stringent terms thereof.

“Our concern is founded on the following premises; EFCC says he was arrested on charges of cyber stalking. In other words journalism constitutes cyber stalking in their estimation. He was arrested in the middle of the night by heavily armed men in the presence of his wife and children.”

Read also: Blogger arrested for allegedly stalking Magu

The party then lashed on President Muhammadu Buhari as it said, “The Muhammadu Buhari administration is showing that it has no respect for the constitutional rights and freedoms of the Nigerian people.

“A free press is the fourth pillar of any democracy and we lend our voices to calls for respect. If Mr Sidiqu has published any falsehood, we urge the Buhari led Federal Government to file an action for defamation.”

Usman’s blog, Abusidiqu.com, had published a report titled, ‘EFCC boss, Magu, commences total war with core EFCC staff’ on August 2, 2016.

According to the blog’s report, members of staff at the EFCC were complaining that they were being bullied by Magu.

He also accused Magu of corruption, and of being jittery about the delay in his confirmation by the Senate.

By Ebere Ndukwu …

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