Police detain cleric over Jonathan’s posters

Sheikh Abubakar Jibril

Prominent Islamic scholar in Sokoto Sheikh Abubakar Jibril was arrested by the police on Monday afternoon and was flown to Abuja yesterday over what police sources said was the defacing of some campaign posters of President Goodluck Jonathan. The Sheikh, who is the Chief Imam of the Farfaru Juma’at Mosque in Sokoto, was arrested with his two sons, his driver and a domestic aide, according to relations and the police. Spokesman for the Sokoto police command ASP Al-Mustapha Sani said policemen on patrol arrested Sheikh Abubakar and the others while they were using black paint to deface the posters of the president and his deputy at some roundabouts in Sokoto metropolis at about 5pm on Monday.

Sani said they were arrested over inciting public disturbance and have been transferred to the Force Criminal Investigation Department in Abuja.

In Abuja, the Force Public Relations Officer DCP Olusola Amore confirmed that five people including Sheikh Abubakar were being held at the Force CID and that they were arrested for allegedly defacing the posters of the PDP presidential candidate and his running mate. He said they were also suspected of inciting dislike for Jonathan and of acts capable of fanning the flames of public disturbance.

Others in detention are Abba Abubakar Jibrin, Bello Abubakar and AlhajiAbubakar Jibrin. Security sources told Daily Trust that they were flown to Abuja by a chartered plane. The FPRO said the suspects will be charged after police investigation is completed.

Wife of Sheikh Abubakar Jibril, Hajiya Safiya Jibril has called on Federal Government to release her husband saying he is not a trouble maker but a peace loving person.

She said her husband had gone out on that day, Monday February 28 and that she was at home when she received information that he had been arrested at about 4.30 pm.

“Sheikh is a not a trouble maker, he is a peace loving. He is an Islamic scholar and preacher and advocate of education. He is father of over 50 children. He caters for relatives and the converts. Those in authority should fear God and release my husband and others.”

But a civil society activist, Ibrahim Tudun Doki described the arrest as political intolerance by the Jonathan regime. Tudun Doki, who is a House of Representatives candidate of the Congress for Progress Change [CPC] recalled that General Muhammadu Buhari’s campaign billboard was destroyed in Port Harcourt, Rivers State last week and that the police did not arrest or charge anyone to court for the action.

Meanwhile, a coalition of 51 organisations in Sokoto State comprising Imams and preachers yesterday condemned the Sheikh’s arrest. Speaking to Daily Trust in Sokoto, their spokesman Alhaji Shuaibu Kaoji said it was outrageous that the police even had to move the Sheikh to Abuja.

He said they were at the office of the Assistant Inspector General of Police in charge of Zone 10 to lay their complaint, but were told that he had gone to Kebbi State. According to him, a committee of seven persons from the 51 Islamic organisations were therefore sent to Birnin Kebbi to meet the AIG on the issue.