Clampdown on Opposition

Clampdown on Opposition: Free Bature Posters Flood Katsina

The demand for the release of Comrade Ibrahim Bature who has been in detention since August for criticizing Governor Aminu Masari of Katsina State is becoming very loud. Bature a former Student Union leader has allegedly criticized the governor for seeking foreign loan while nothing was done with the billions of Naira Paris fund and other bailouts that his government has received from the federal government. For doing this, the governor allegedly ordered for his arrest for hate speech and since then he has been languishing in detention.

Jibrin Mohammed Auwal, former NANS Financial Secretary told correspondent in Abuja that their demand is that the governor should either release Bature or take him to court, According to him, the only offence that Bature has committed is telling the governor the truth. He said the youths in the state are taking the detention very seriously because they feel that the governor is just clamping down on his strong political opponents to pave way for his re- election in 2019.

According to him, Bature had declared his intention to contest against the incumbent governor, adding that with his popularity as a student union leader, he would be a very big threat in the 2019 governorship election in Katsina state. He said the masses of the state feel that it is because of this that the governor decided to put him in the cooler.

"Comrade Bature is a victim of the dirty politics that is going on in Katsina State. I wonder when telling the truth becomes hate speech. Our state is in a mess. Nothing is going on. Even the president is embarrassed with the performance of the governor in the last two years. The governor without being told know that he has failed and if people like Bature should contest against him, he would lose, That is why he locked him up since August just to intimidate him.

So we, the youths in Katsina are calling on the governor to free him or take him to court. Even if he was arrested for hate speech, it is not a treasonable offence that does not warrant bail" Auwal said

Contributing, a People's Democratic Party Chieftain in the state, Idris Gidado said that the people of Katsina are already nostalgic about the PDP administration under Governor Shema. According to him, those that voted for change in the state and in the country have seen that it was mis-governance that they voted for. He said all the progress that the PDP made in the state has been reversed by the Masari led APC government in the state. According to him, Bature is a prisoner of conscience. He said the governor has no moral ground to seek foreign loan while nobody saw what he did with the Paris fund and the federal government bailout

Furthermore, he said that the people of Katsina are now wiser, adding that in the last general election, they voted with their heart instead of their head. His words,

" It is very unfortunate what we are now seeing in Katsina state.If you say the truth to government, they would say that it is hate speech. So, we nolonger have the right to hold our public office holders accountable or to ask what they are doing with our money. Governor Masari recieved billions of Naira Paris fund as well as the bailout from the federal government. We have not seen anything that he has used the money to do and now he is seeking another foreign loan and he is expecting us to close our mouths like fools. My advice to him is that he should build more prisons because we will not keep quiet and watch him mortgage the future of unborn children with loans.It will not happen."