By Ada Ayogu-Eze

Popular political blogger and supporter of President Buhari, Abubakar Sidiq Usman, Publisher of “Abusidiqu” online newspaper graced the headlines for most past of last week after his arrest by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Monday morning, 8th August 2016.

There was widespread condemnation of the arrest and the social media went agog with the #FreeAbusidiq campaign trending on twitter for almost two days before his eventual release on bail, Tuesday evening. His arrest based on purported “offensive publications” and “cyber stalking” were thought to be illegal and an infringement on his fundamental human rights.

The DISCOURSE Managing Editor, Ada Ayogu-Eze caught up with him on Monday, 15th August 2016 where he threw more light on his ordeal and next line of action.

Ada Ayogu-Eze: Can you narrate events that led to your arrest that fateful Monday morning?

Abusidiqu: Two guys came to my house and eventually introduced themselves as policemen; police hilux van came too with other policemen then a Toyota bus with EFCC operatives. The operatives of the EFCC got down from the bus, one of them said “let’s get to do our work” and I asked him, who are you? It was at this point they introduced themselves as operatives of the EFCC and that they have a warrant to search my house

Ada Ayogu-Eze: The Policemen that came initially, were they on uniforms or plain-cloth officers and did they come with a vehicle or approached your house like a passer-by?

Abusidiqu: The first people that came, two of them, they came in plain clothes and when they knocked on my house, my wife initially went to answer them before I came out and at no point did they reveal themselves until I went outside before they introduced themselves. So the fear from the beginning after they came to knock was that they were probably assassins or some intruders that came to cause some harm.

Ada Ayogu-Eze: On getting to EFCC, what transpired within your 36 hours arrest? Were you in anyway threatened or intimidated?

Abusidiqu: I’m not sure I was threatened and I’m not sure I was intimidated apart from the fact that I was asked to write statement and I was told that I do not have obligations to write but there are consequences if I choose not to. Throughout the period of my stay, the better part of the first day, I was writing my statement, I was being asked questions and I was answering them in the statement sheet I was provided. The following day, nothing really happened, a few more statement the following day before I was eventually released.

Ada Ayogu-Eze: Can you tell us some of the questions you were asked?

Abusidiqu: Yes, they showed me some documents, print-outs of some of the publications I published, print outs of some of the emails sent to me containing the articles that I published so basically their questions revolved around these two issues.

Ada Ayogu-Eze: There has been allegations of human rights violations against acting EFCC chair, Ibrahim Magu. Would you lead the campaign against his confirmation now that your experience has brought this to the fore?

Abusidiqu: Of course. I don’t think I have any reason not to be at the forefront of the campaign against his confirmation because if I want to go by my experience and what happened to me, I’m not sure they wouldn’t repeat the same thing again. I’m not sure if this is the kind of EFCC we want to have, an EFCC that in as much as they claim to want to do their job, violates the right of others especially when they are innocent, an EFCC that will also bring a lot of embarrassment to the government. Having been part of the people who campaigned for the emergence of this government and I’ve been giving it the necessary support, I don’t think I want to seat down and watch any institution of government doing anything that will bring disrepute to a government that I am supposed to be part of.

Ada Ayogu-Eze: Not a few analysts believe the anti-corruption war championed by EFCC is largely a media trial, what’s your view on this?

Abusidiqu: Well, I wouldn’t know. There is no way the EFCC would have been doing its anti-corruption activities without the media being involved. Whether it is a media trial or not, I cannot conclude on that but we have seen a few cases taken to court in as much as we haven’t had any conviction in the court. The media will have to report those cases, so I do not have any conclusion whether it is a media trial or not.

Ada Ayogu-Eze: We understand you are in court to get reprieve for violation of your fundamental human rights. If EFCC makes advances to you to apologize and settle out of court, how would you proceed?

Abusidiqu: I think I want to as far as possible pursue my case in court. I want the court to declare that the EFCC has virtually violated my rights; I don’t that think that is negotiable. I don’t think I can agree to anything apart from that but going forward aside that, I’ll leave my lawyer to decide.

Ada Ayogu-Eze: As a staunch supporter of President Buhari and obviously whose rights have been violated, what would be your advice to the government in view of recurring cases like this?

Abusidiqu: Yes, I am a strong supporter of President Muhammadu Buhari and one of the reasons I supported him is because I want to see something different from what we used to have and I believe that he is working towards that path and if unfortunately we have institutions of the same government going outside the change we want to see, the President should take action against those institutions or individuals heading those institutions because in as much as he has good intentions, good plans to make things right, he will not achieve this things if he has individuals in institutions that are not keying into his own vision. In a situation like this, I’ll call on the President to take the necessary steps and do the right thing