Yerima Arrested, Released Over Alleged Incitement

Former Governor of Zamfara State, Senator Ahmed Sani Yerima

By John Shiklam

Former governor of Zamfara State and  senator representing Zamfara North Senatorial District, Senator Ahmed Sani Yerima, was picked up by the police in Kaduna Saturday after featuring on the Hausa phone-in programme “ Hanu Dayawa” broadcast by the Kaduna station of the Federal Radio Corporation (FRCN).

Sani was said to have declared while responding to a question from one of the listeners that leaders of the All Progressive Congress (APC) will mobilise Nigerians for a peaceful protest at the Eagle Square just like it happened in Egypt if the party is not registered.

The Kaduna State Police Commissioner, Mr. Olufemi Adenaike, was said to have gone to the radio station to invite Sani to his office after the two-hour programme which ended at 12 noon.

Sani who spoke with journalists before he left for the police headquarters said he was invited by the police commissioner who  asked him to see him after the radio programme.

According to Sani, “he (the police commissioner) wanted us to go together , but may be seeing the large crowd with me, he said I should come and see him.

“I don’t sense anything because I know what I said, he has taken the recorded CD of the radio programme. I said if there is any item by anybody in any quarter to prevent APC from being registered, we can go as far as staging peaceful protest at the Eagle Square, we will stay there 24 hours through out the day until our demands are  granted. That is all I said.
“I am not under arrest, I am just being invited by the CP and I am going to see him. It is the CP himself that invited me. He said he was directed from Abuja to invite me.  He said that they have received calls to invite me to his office and I am going there now,” Sani told reporters before he went to the headquarters of the Kaduna State Police Command.

Sani disclosed that at the police headquarters ,  “We played the recorded interview for two hours. Where they are more  interested in the interview is where a listener called to ask me what will happened after meeting all the necessary procedure for the registration of the APC and it is not registered.

“I answered by saying that myself, Gen. Buhari, Bola Tinubu, Ibrahim Shekarau  and other prominent members of the party will converge at Eagle Square and stage a peaceful protest until the party is registered just like it happened in Egypt”.

However commenting on the arrest, the police commissioner insisted that the former governor was not arrested neither did anybody called him from Abuja over the radio programme.

“Let me start by saying tat I am seriously disappointed by journalists, in the sense that you are blowing nothing out of proportion. If you   are in my shoes as the commissioner of police of a state and  you start getting calls from concerned citizens of the state that somebody has made an inciting statement on the radio, will you go to burukutu (local brew) joint and start drinking?  You have to make a move.

“All I did was to go the radio house and I met the distinguished Senator and I said, please, I want to know what you said. He said, no problem, let me finish and I will come with you to the office. This is what has transpired and I am surprised that people are saying many things, that CP has arrested him  or that CP has orders from Abuja.

“The distinguished senator is not under arrest.  All we did was to find out what he said and he said they were going to go on a peaceful demonstration. And I said, define what you mean by peaceful demonstration, considering that Kaduna State is a volatile state. I don’t want anything to happen in my domain. I am completely satisfied with what he has said and he is free to go. There was no directive from anywhere. We were doing things on our own,” the police commissioner explained.

Also in a statement  about what transpired at the police headquarters, a copy of which was made available to newsmen, Yerima  said “during the phone in programme, I was asked if there is any move not to register  our new party APC, what can we do? And my response was that if we met all the requirements and INEC refused to register us, we shall embark on a peaceful protest to INEC until we are registered.

“Then the moderator asked me what I meant by peaceful protest? Then I responded by saying just like it happened in Egypt. We can go to Eagle Square together with Gen. Buhari, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Ibrahim Shekarau and others to mobilise people without using any weapon for a peaceful protest until our party is registered.”

Sani said the police asked him, “assuming our peaceful protest is not yielding desired result what next? And my answer to that question is that we are practicing democracy in Nigeria. If the President of Egypt can yield to the pressure of his people in a peaceful protest, I am sure that with the integrity of Prof. Jega that I know personally, he will yield to the people’s pressure and make sure so long as we met all the legal requirements, we are registered.

According to him, the police told him that  knowing the security situation in Kaduna being a PDP state, some people may read meanings to what he said and try to make mischief.

The former governor however expressed surprise at the police invitation, saying that as a former governor and chief security officer of Zamfara state and a distinguished senator, he will never called for violence, nor support or participate in violence.

“For eight years that I served in Zamfara state as governor, even with the implementation of sharia’a, there was never violence between Muslims and Christians because of my firm believe in peaceful coexistence. So whoever called the CP from Abuja is the one trying to be mischievous and cause crisis in Nigeria” Sani said.