The Police in Kaduna, Monday, raided the Kaduna home of Mr. BaraK Zebedee of the Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, ABU, Department of Biology, over an alleged comment in a whatsapp chat group, which the police said was inciting.
The Whatsapp chat group, according to our DAILY POST findings, was formed to marshal assistance for thousands of displaced persons in the ongoing killings in some Southern Kaduna communities, believed to be carried out by Fulani militia.
Zebedee, a PhD student in Fisheries and Hydrology, is an expert in Industrial Effluent.
He has been vocal on his Twitter and Face book accounts where he also condemned what the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union, SOKAPU, and several non-governmental organisations, NGOs, have described as genocide carried out on the people of Southern Kaduna.
Zebedee said: “It must have been around 12:20pm today (Monday) when armed policemen in mufti stormed my house.
“They had arrested one of my close friends and forced him at gun point to take them to my house. I was very shocked to see five armed men in my compound. You’d think I was a hardened crook they had been working hard to find.
“Without giving me any chance to change from my night wears, they arrested and brought me to the Force CID, in Kaduna. One call from them would have seen me coming by myself to the Police Headquarters. I am a law abiding citizen and well known in my field.
“They said that I wrote, ‘please let’s learn to be patient with each other,’ in SK Victim Support group (name of the Whatsapp group). They have a print of the chat we are doing in support of our traumatised and government-forsaken people.
“According to them, my plea for patience amounts to public incitement. Unless they have other issues, that is what I was confronted with.”
His lawyer, Celestin Dominic Anwai told our reporter that he was surprised at the development.
“They will not release him today. He will have to sleep under their detention.
“There is no problem. Anytime they arraign him, I will apply for his bail. I have nothing to say now,” he added.
Zebedee has joined others from Southern Kaduna that have been arrested, detained in prison and are facing prosecution by the Kaduna State government for alleged untoward comments against the killings in the area.
El-Rufai has publicly accused Southern Kaduna religious leaders and leaders of its pan socio-cultural group, SOKAPU of fuelling the killings.
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