Aminu Mohammed: Aisha Buhari Withdraws Case Against Critic

Nigeria’s First Lady, Aisha Buhari, has withdrawn the defamation suit filed against Aminu Mohammed.

Mohammed, a student of Federal University, Dutse, was arrested for allegedly defaming the wife of President Muhammadu Buhari on Twitter sometime back.

However, following criticisms, Fidelis Ogbobe, Aisha’s lawyer informed the Federal Capital Territory High Court on Friday, December 2, that the president’s wife had withdrawn the case following the intervention of well-meaning Nigerians.

The first lady had dragged Aminu before the court over a tweet he posted claiming that she was feeding ‘fat’ on poor people’s money.

The tweet, which was posted in Hausa, read: “Su mama anchi kudin talkawa ankoshi.” It loosely translates as “Mama has fed fat on poor people’s money.” A picture of Aisha was also posted with the tweet.

After two weeks in detention, Mohammed was arraigned before Justice Yusuf Halilu of the Federal Capital Territory High Court at Maitama, on Tuesday, November 29. Although he pleaded not guilty, the judge ordered that he should be remanded at Suleja prison in Niger State.

The police said the alleged offense of the 24-year-old student bordered 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.”

CK Agu, Mohammed’s counsel, had earlier requested bail for his client to enable him to start his final exams on Monday, but the court did not grant the application.