Aminu Mohammed, a student at the Federal University in Dutse, Jigawa State, was detained by the police after posting on Twitter that she was "feeding fat on poor citizens' money," according to the office of the Economic Community of West African States Youth Ambassador, Richard Solomon.
Solomon has called for Mohammed's immediate release.
The youth ambassador for ECOWAS stated that citizens had the freedom to criticize the government without repercussions. "Citizens should be able to express their disapproval of government officials on social media platforms." In actuality, the government's actions intended to obstruct constructive criticism constitute a violation of rights protected by the constitution. The true spirit of democracy in a nation is preserved by criticism, according to this statement.
The young man's arrest and detention, he continued, were draconian violations of his fundamental human rights and were against the law.
In his words, “Human rights are sacred and sacrosanct and must not be trampled upon by anybody, regardless of their position in society." The 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) reiterates the above provisions of the United Nations Charter on Human Rights when it guarantees in Section 35 the right of every person to his or her personal liberty, except where such liberty is encumbered, restrained, or controlled by the due process of the law, i.e., the execution of a court order or judgment.
“In line with the import of this constitutional provision, it is quite apparent that there was neither a valid cause of arrest nor the application of due process of law.”
According to Solomon, the ECOWAS Youth Council was established to minimize and respond swiftly to the demanding challenges of the West African youth, and as such, the organization was prepared to fight and agitate relentlessly until the eventual liberation of Mohammed.
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