Aisha Buhari withdraws case against Aminu after public backlash

Nigeria's First Lady, Aisha Buhari, has withdrawn the defamation case against the final year student of the Federal University, Dutse, Aminu Mohammed, following backlashes from activists and other pressure groups.

The prosecution counsel, Fidelis Ogbobe, while announcing the First Lady's decision to withdraw the case, informed the Federal Capital Territory High Court that Mrs Buhari took the decision after the intervention of well-meaning Nigerians.

Moving the motion for withdrawal during proceedings on Friday, December 2, 2022, Ogbode cited section 108 subsection 2(a) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act.

Meanwhile, the presiding Justice, Yusuf Halilu, commended the First Lady for letting the student off the hook, while calling on parents to always monitor the activities of their children to avoid recurrence.

This development comes amid massive public backlash against Mrs Buhari since news of Mohammed’s arrest became a public knowledge.

Several groups including celebrities, student unions, politicians, media analysts and social media influencers have lent their voices to the plight of Mohammed, whose ordeal started after making a post about the First Lady on Twitter.

Mrs Buhari had deemed Aminu's tweet, which alleged that she is feeding fat on poor people's money, as offensive.

The tweet, posted in Hausa, read: “Su mama anchi kudin talkawa ankoshi,” loosely translated to mean “Mama has fed fat on poor people’s money,” was accompanied by a picture of Aisha.

What you should know: Recall that the final-year student of the Department of Environmental Management, was arrested on the order of Mrs Buhari and detained for two weeks before he was eventually arraigned before Justice Halilu on Tuesday, November 29, 2022.

Despite pleading not guilty, the judge ordered that he should be remanded at Suleja Correctional Centre in Niger State.

According to the police, the 24-year-old student committed offences bordering on defamation and cyberstalking, which contravened Section 391 of the Penal Code.

In the one-count charge marked: CR/89/2022, and dated 23 November, the police said “between May and June 2022 within the jurisdiction of this court, did intentionally open a Twitter handle with the name …Catalyst and screenshot the photograph of her Excellency Hajia Aisha Buhari and wrote on it in Hausa language… roughly translated to English language to mean ‘Mama has embezzled monies meant for the poor to satisfaction’ and posted same on your above Twitter handle.. knowing same to be false and capable of affecting her reputation.”

Speaking with BBC Hausa, Mohammed’s counsel, CK Agu, said his request for bail for his client to enable him start final exams on Monday was rejected by the court.

CK Agu's word: “Even in yesterday’s court session, we informed the judge that we requested the police to grant Aminu bail in time, but they did not respond on weather they would release him or not.

“Therefore, we requested the court to grant him bail on the grounds of ill health and that he will start exams on December 5. And now the court has ordered the police to present the bail request which was filed so that the court can act on the request today or tomorrow.”