A prominent northern elder, Umaru Hadejia, and his sons have allegedly been unlawfully detained by the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) unit of the Nigeria Police Force, under the directive of the Minister of State for Defense, Bello Matawalle.
The incident reportedly occurred on September 30, 2024, around 6 pm, without any arrest warrants or charges brought against them.
In a press statement/petition issued yesterday, Hadejia revealed that he, alongside his sons, Bashir, Bello, Mahmud, Abubakar, and Ahmad, have been held in detention despite no formal accusations being made.
He specifically cited the actions of the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) and Minister Matawalle as being responsible for their unlawful detention.
This situation follows previous accusations against Hadejia’s son Bashir, which gained widespread attention on social media. However, Police investigations reportedly did not find any grounds to charge Bashir, and he was not brought before the court.
Hadejia and his family had to seek legal redress, resulting in a court ruling that granted Bashir bail and ordered his release on September 5, 2024. Despite the court’s ruling, Bashir was only released on September 25. However, less than a week after Bashir’s release, the rest of the family remain in Police custody.
Hadejia expressed grave concern for the safety of his family, stating that their continued detention is unlawful and they have not been informed of any charges. “I fear for our lives and safety”, Hadejia stated, appealing to the public for support and calling for justice.
The circumstances surrounding this detention have sparked outrage and concern, with human rights advocates expected to weigh-in on the legality of the actions taken by the authorities.
No official comment has yet been made by the Police or the Minister of State for Defense as of press time.
The full statement reads: “I, along with my five children (Bashir, Bello, Mahmud, Abubakar and Ahmad) have been unlawfully detained without any warrant of arrest and without any charge levied against us at the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) unit in Abuja by the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), under the directive of the Minister of State (Defence) Bello Matawalle since yesterday 30th September, 2024 at around 6pm.
“The previously spurious allegations against Bashir by the IGP and the Minister of State (Defence) Bello Matawalle, which were widely circulated in the social media were found to be false, because the Police investigations themselves did not find any cause to charge Bashir to court. Up to now, the Police could not charge Bashir on any of those allegations.
“Despite this, the Police could not release Bashir, which then forced us to go to court to secure his release and enforcement of his fundamental human rights; upon which the court granted bail and ordered for his release on the 5th of September 2024. Still, the Police refused to release Bashir until the 25th September 2024.
“However, I and my above-named children are still being illegally detained by the Inspector-General of Police, under the directive of the Minister of Defence (State) Bello Matawalle without warrant of arrest and any charge against us. I fear for our lives and safety”.
