By Zainab Bakare
The Department of State Services (DSS) has filed a three-count charge bordering on cybercrime and defamation against Mubarak Abdullahi, also known as Sardaunan Samari, over an allegedly fake letter attributed to President Bola Tinubu and addressed to the United States president.
The charges were filed at the Federal High Court in Kaduna, according to a statement shared on X by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, late Monday.
Onanuga said Abdullahi was arrested on September 28 for sharing the document on Facebook with the caption, “ATIKU IS COMING.”
He added that the suspect admitted sharing the document during questioning and apologised for his actions.
The presidential aide said the DSS arraigned Abdullahi before Chief Magistrate Court No. 10, Kabala Doki, Kaduna, which ordered his remand at the Nigerian Correctional Centre in Kaduna.
Onanuga noted that a date for his formal arraignment at the Federal High Court had yet to be fixed.
He said the DSS would continue to track people involved in spreading misleading information online.
Meanwhile, human rights activist Omoyele Sowore criticised the arrest, accusing the government of using a national security agency to suppress dissent.
In a post on X on Tuesday, Sowore condemned the arrest, arguing that a citizen should not be detained for sharing a document online.
There has been no public reaction from former Vice President Atiku Abubakar or his media aide, Phrank Shaibu, to the allegation that Abdullahi supports the former vice president.
