The Department of State Services (DSS) has filed a three-count charge of cybercrime and defamation against Mubarak Abdullahi, a Kaduna man accused of sharing a fake letter allegedly written by President Bola Tinubu to the United States President.
Abdullahi, also known as Sardaunan Samari, was arrested on September 28 after posting the document on Facebook with the caption, “ATIKU IS COMING.”
Bayo Onanuga, Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, announced the development on X late Monday. He said Abdullahi had appeared before Chief Magistrate Court No. 10, Kabala Doki, Kaduna, which ordered his remand at the Nigerian Correctional Centre, Kaduna.
Onanuga said the suspect admitted sharing the document and apologised. However, the DSS proceeded with the case at the Federal High Court in Kaduna.
He also said the agency would continue identifying people involved in spreading what he described as misleading information online.
Meanwhile, African Action Congress (AAC) presidential candidate and human rights activist Omoyele Sowore condemned the arrest, accusing the DSS of being used to silence critics.
In a post on X on Tuesday, he questioned the agency’s role in the matter.
“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 also warned, “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!”
At the time of writing, Atiku and his media aide, Phrank Shaibu, had not publicly reacted.
