Aminu Adamu, an undergraduate, was accused of posting on Twitter with the description “Mama is feeding fat on poor people’s money,” prompting First Lady Aisha Buhari to file a lawsuit against him. The lawsuit has been dismissed by an Abuja court.
According to Adamu’s attorney, Barrister CK Agu, the First Lady withdrew the complaint through her counsel, the BBC Hausa reports on Friday.
After his post, Adamu was taken into custody. After being charged, he was remanded in custody pending the start of the trial that threatened to defame the First Lady.
Following the development, civil society organizations and attorneys strongly criticized the situation and demanded his immediate release.
According to reports, Buhari dropped the issue as a result of “intervention by” Nigerians.
Aminu’s attorney, CK Agu, had requested on November 25 that the court offer his client lenient terms for bail, but it was denied.
Recall how Aminu’s educational institution, Federal University Dutse (FUD), in Jigawa State, asked his parents to “hire the services of a lawyer to address the problem.”
The development had also been denounced by the Socio-economic Rights and Accountability Project, or SERAP.
“Aminu Muhammad, a student at the Federal University of Dutse who has apparently been arrested for allegedly disparaging the first lady on Twitter, must be immediately and unconditionally released by the Buhari administration. If he isn’t released right away, we’ll see in court”, according to SERAP’s tweet.