DSS REMANDS MAN OVER ALLEGED CIRCULATION OF FAKE TINUBU LETTER
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By ‘Balogun Ibrahim
The Department of State Services (DSS) has filed a three-count charge bordering on cybercrime and defamation against Mubarak Abdullahi, popularly known as Sardaunan Samari, over the circulation of a fake document purportedly written by President Bola Tinubu and addressed to the President of the United States.
Abdullahi was charged at the Federal High Court in Kaduna, according to a statement shared on X late Monday by Bayo Onanuga, the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy.
Onanuga said the suspect had earlier been arraigned before Chief Magistrate Court No. 10, Kabala Doki, Kaduna, which ordered his remand at the Nigerian Correctional Centre in Kaduna.
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According to the presidential aide, Abdullahi, an alleged supporter of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, was arrested on September 28 for sharing the purportedly forged document on his Facebook page with the caption, “ATIKU IS COMING.”
Onanuga stated that Abdullahi admitted to investigators that he had shared the document and apologised for his actions, but the apology did not prevent the DSS from pursuing the case.
He quoted the presidential aide as saying that the DSS had filed a three-count charge against the suspect at the Federal High Court in Kaduna.
Onanuga added that a date for Abdullahi’s formal arraignment at the Federal High Court had yet to be fixed.
The presidential aide also assured Nigerians that the DSS would continue to demonstrate its ability to track down individuals involved in circulating misleading information online.
However, the report that Abdullahi is a supporter of Atiku could not be independently verified. Neither the former vice president nor his media aide, Phrank Shaibu, had reacted to the development as of the time of filing this report.
Meanwhile, human rights activist Omoyele Sowore has criticised Abdullahi’s arrest, accusing the DSS of being used to suppress dissenting voices.
In a post on his X account on Tuesday, Sowore questioned the government’s handling of the matter and condemned the arrest of a citizen over a document shared online.
He wrote, “How low will you go, #OfficialAPCNg and the #officialABAT regime? How on earth do you reduce a national security agency like the #OfficialDSSNG to a mere vacuum cleaner, deployed to sweep up dissenting voices in your inordinate ambition to subdue every citizen simply because you are afraid to face the Nigerian people and account for your disastrous reign?”
Sowore described the arrest as unfortunate and warned that those responsible would eventually be held accountable for their actions.
He added, “Arresting a hapless citizen for posting a document online – sad! Shame on all of you! A day of reckoning is coming, when you too will be held accountable for your actions. That day is coming sooner than you think. Very soon!”
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