Senator Abdulaziz Yari has spent two nights languishing in the dungeon of Nigeria’s iron-fisted State Security Service.
According to Peoples Gazette, the arrest was initiated after multiple telephone calls to his line from President Bola Tinubu which rang through last month.
The Gazette also reported that an insider source hinted in separate disclosures on Friday that the SSS arrested Mr Yari on Thursday morning and detained him for “thinking the president is a joke,” as one official put it. Both sources obtained The Gazette’s commitment to keeping them anonymous to bounce potential backlash from the authority.
“He was asked why he ignored the president’s phone calls during the Senate leadership battle,” an official said. “He started arguing that he has every right to contest for the position and decisions about his political career moves should not come from the president.”
Sources said Mr Yari received a call from Yusuf Bichi, the director-general, to report at the SSS’ headquarters for an urgent discussion. Upon arrival, Mr Yari was asked to wait for Mr Bichi, who purportedly stepped out. But the senator was delayed throughout the day by a phalanx of armed SSS agents, only to be told at about 10:00 p.m. Thursday that he won’t be going home, The Gazette learnt. The senator’s planned visit with other Senate colleagues to former President Ibrahim Babangida on Friday was consequently aborted.
