The detained Pro-Palestine protester, Yahuza Haruna Masaka By Zailani Mustapha The Islamic Movement in Nigeria has sounded an alarm regard...
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| The detained Pro-Palestine protester, Yahuza Haruna Masaka |
By Zailani Mustapha
The Islamic Movement in Nigeria has sounded an alarm regarding a Pro-Palestine protester who was arrested and detained by the Nigerian police force three years ago.
This concern was expressed in a statement signed by Prof. Dauda Nalado for the Islamic Movement, led by Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky, on Tuesday, May 7, 2024.
The Islamic movement brought to the public’s attention of what they described as “a strange act of unprofessionalism by the FCT Police Command.”
Nalado further recounted that on Friday, May 7, 2021, at approximately 14:30 hours, the police took Yahuza Haruna Masaka to an undisclosed detention facility. “To this day, they have callously denied his family any access to him.”
“Yahuza Haruna arrived at Wuse, Zone 3, Abuja FCT, to participate in a pro-Palestine protest organised by the followers of Sheikh Ibraheem Yaqoub Zakzaky. After the protest, Yahuza Haruna tried to reach out to his younger sister (Rahma Salihu) in order to give her a bus fare and enable her to return home. Yahuza saw her in a Toyota Coaster bus and moved closer to talk to her. Unknown to him, the bus, together with the people on board, had been arrested by the police.
“As Police caught sight of him talking to his female sibling, the police descended on him, beating him and whatnot. The bus, with the 62 people already under so-called arrest, was moved off to Eagle Square.
“At that point in time, Yahuza was handed over to the patrol team in a Hilux van, and the 62 people were moved to Eagle Square. At Eagle Square, the police tortured them inhumanely, even using electric shocks, which led to the sudden and unfortunate demise of Naziru Mu’azu from Isa Local Government Area of Sokoto State, and 44 people sustained varying degrees of critical injuries,” the statement narrated.
Prof Nalado stated that peaceful protest and religious freedom are fundamental rights of all citizens, but in a manner not befitting a police profession and those engaged in it, they accosted and arrested underage (both male and female) and passers-by who were not even protesting.
“Even though Yahuza’s younger sister, Rahma Salihu, was taken to the Anti-Vice Unit of Police, Wuse Zone 2, and she was later released on the same day, for the past 3 years, all efforts to locate Yahuza Haruna have been abortive and to no avail. Abduction has become rife in this part of the world, but it is very sad and disastrous for the police to behave in this way.
“Where are the codes of practice and behaviour? Or, have police operatives cast caution to the winds and dived into what they had been employed to contain? Police is supposed to be for the preservation of law and order.
“While condemning the unlawful abduction and detention of Yahuza Haruna Masaka by the FCT Police, we are demanding his unconditional release,” the statement emphasized.
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