Governors’ Growing Intolerance to Criticisms 

With recent developments in states like Imo, Kano, Kaduna, Sokoto, and Yobe, where the civic space is increasingly stifled and dissenting voices are often targeted or even abducted by the police at the behest of certain governors, the growing intolerance of state leaders toward criticism is becoming more evident, Ejiofor Alike reports

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ince he emerged as the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and continuing into his presidency, President Bola Tinubu has faced both constructive and destructive criticisms in conventional and social media.

Despite these large doses of insults, there has been no report of any journalist, social critic or opposition politician being abducted and clamped into detention by the security agencies for “insulting” the president.

But it is common knowledge that many Nigerians have been persecuted by the security agencies at the instance of governors who are intolerant to criticisms.

While President Tinubu has tolerated insults to his person and office, in line with the tenets of democracy, some governors have become emperors who order the arrest and detention of critics in their states for insulting them.

For instance, in Sokoto State, an aide to Senator Aminu Tambuwal, the immediate past governor of the state and serving senator, Mr. Shafi’u Umar Tureta, was remanded in a correctional facility for allegedly insulting Governor Ahmad Aliyu, on Facebook. 

Tambuwal’s aide allegedly shared a document that purportedly showed that Aliyu scored F9 in English Language in the senior school certificate examination (SSCE).

Tureta was also said to have shared videos to mock the governor for not “being fluent in English” and was accused of posting a video in July showing the spraying of dollar notes during the birthday celebration of the governor’s wife, Fatima.

Amnesty International Nigeria had condemned his arrest, saying it was “unacceptable.”

“This surge in human rights violations by the Sokoto State government is unacceptable and must end now,” it reportedly said.

While that was still raging, a woman, Hamdiyya Sidi, was arrested and put in prison for allegedly lamenting the rising killings and general insecurity in the state. 

In a viral video, Ms. Sidi revealed how bandits pillaged their villages without restraints, and how displaced women seeking refuge in the state capital are now being sexually exploited due to abject poverty and squalor.

In Kano State, a journalist, Muktar Dahiru, who was accused of making a Facebook post considered “insulting” to Governor Abba Yusuf was arrested and remanded in prison.

Dahiru, who works with Pyramid FM Kano, a radio station managed by the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), was arrested on August 29, based on the allegation of sharing multiple audio interviews in which opposition politicians criticised the Kano State governor.

 In July, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Abdul Majid Mustapha a.k.a Dan Bilki Commander, was brutalised in Abuja by suspected thugs for allegedly insulting Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State on social media.

In a video that went viral, he was seen in handcuffs being interrogated and assaulted by a group of men who accused him of insulting Governor Sani.

Though the state government dissociated itself from the incident and claimed that it had ordered a probe, the victim accused the state government of not tolerating dissent views.

“Previously, they (the state government) humiliated a lady and a social media influencer who supports El-Rufai. The guy was brutalised at a market.

“Uba Sani hates opposition because he doesn’t know politics. Only a real politician knows the value of opposition. Obasanjo, Yar’Adua, Goodluck, and Buhari were opposed, and now Bola Tinubu is being opposed. Uba Sani doesn’t know politics and he will not know because he is arrogant,” Commander was quoted in a media report.

He added that his attackers picked him up at Jabi Lifecamp and dropped him off at Wuse ll.

“After removing the handcuffs, they asked me never to comment on Governor Uba Sani again. And if I do, they will pick me again. They said if I kicked them, they would kill me,” he added.

Governor Sani’s predecessor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai was also accused of persecuting journalists, rights activists, and other dissent voices during his eight-year tenure. Though he did not order their arrest, he went after their properties.

Earlier this month, a Niger State-based journalist, Mustapha Bina, was detained by the Department of State Services (DSS) after reporting an alleged bandit attack on Governor Umaru Bago’s motorcade during a project tour to Mashegu Local Government Area.

Though the state government denied the incident, Bina was arrested and detained by the DSS, allegedly on the orders of Governor Bago.

In Benue State, a 35-year-old man, Paul Gyenger, was remanded in prison in October for allegedly calling Governor Hyacinth Alia a “chronic womaniser” on his social media platform.

Gyenger was arraigned before the Makurdi Chief Magistrate’s Court.

However, the Chief Magistrate, Mr. Kelvin Mbanongun, who did not take the suspect’s plea due to a lack of jurisdiction, adjourned the matter until December 17.

Also, the Yobe State Police Command had on December 11, 2022, arrested a 16-year-old boy, Umar Isah, for allegedly insulting the state governor, Mai Mala Buni, on social media.

On many occasions, police officers from one state have had to travel to another state to abduct perceived enemies of the governors.

On August 19, 2022, a journalist and activist, Agba Jalingo was abducted from his Ogudu residence in Lagos State for allegedly publishing an article that was deemed ‘insulting’ to Mrs Elizabeth Ayade, a sister-in-law of the then Cross River State governor, Prof. Ben Ayade.

Jalingo, who is the publisher of an online medium, CrossRiverWatch, was subsequently detained at the Alapere Police Station and later at Area F Command in Ikeja before he was flown to Abuja the next day by police operatives from the FCT Command.

Last month, the wife of an ex-commissioner in Imo State raised the alarm that her husband, Fabian Ihekweme, had been abducted by suspected gunmen in Abuja.

She claimed that Governor Hope Uzodimma sent “unknown men” who abducted her husband. But the police spokesperson in Imo, Mr. Henry Okoye, an assistant superintendent of police, claimed that Ihekweme was “lawfully arrested” by police detectives, and not abducted by gunmen. However, his arrest was said to be connected to his frequent criticism of Governor Uzodimma’s administration.

He has since sued the Nigeria Police over his arrest and prolonged detention. Ihekweme filed the fundamental rights enforcement suit before a Federal High Court in Abuja, demanding an order for his immediate release and the sum of N5 million in damages against the Imo State Police Command for the “unlawful harassment, assault adoption/arrest and detention, persecution.”

With these recent developments, it is becoming glaring that some governors have become tyrants, who stifle public space against dissent voices and welcome only praise-singing and sycophancy.

With the level of intolerance, abuse of power and impunity exhibited by these governors with the connivance of the federal police authorities, many who are opposed to the creation of state police, have expressed the fear that the governors might use them to run their political opponents out of their states.