National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has released a statement detailing the ill-treatment and brutal harassment Aminu Adamu Mohammed suffered in the hands of SSS operatives over a social media post deemed disparaging to the nation’s first lady, Aisha Buhari, who allegedly ordered the assault.

“Aminu was taken straight to the presidential villa and he was allegedly brutalized, beaten, maltreated and humiliated by the Police on the orders of Haj. Aisha Buhari,” reads the statement signed by NANS president, Usman Umar Barambu, on Tuesday, November 29.

Aso Villa, the office and official residence of president Muhammadu Buhari and important members of his administration, was intended to serve as a symbol of hope for a country adopting a democratic system of government. However, it has since turned into a hotbed of oppression where powerful political figures show their vindictive personalities towards people they perceive as enemies.

NANS took keen interest in the matter since Mr Muhammed, a student of Federal University Dutse Jigawa, was still languishing in a police cell ever since he was picked up and brutalised by the secret police on November 18. 

He was assaulted by the brutal SSS operatives over a tweet asserting Mrs Buhari “had gotten fatter by eating masses’ money,” according to the English translation of the tweet originally written in Hausa language – “Su mama anchi kudin talkawa ankoshi.”

NANS in its statement said Mr Muhammed, who has been “unlawfully detained in a police facility at Wuse Zone II till date,” confirmed the incident to the students’ association’s president and legal team after visiting him.

NANS expressed profound worry that the undergraduate was left to rot in jail rather than be tried for his alleged offences in a court of competent jurisdiction or be granted bail.