37-year-old primary school
teacher in Kwara State, Biodun Baba, who was arraigned before a magistrates’
court in Ilorin for allegedly insulting Senate President Bukola Saraki on
Facebook, recounts his ordeal in this interview with Punch Newspaper
Tell us about yourself.
I was born in 1980. I
attended LGEA Primary School, Elemere, Malete in the Moro Local Government Area
of Kwara State. I went to Awanga High School in Shao town between 1994 and
2000. I later went to the Kwara State College of Education, Ilorin from 2002 to
2004, where I obtained the Nigerian Certificate in Education (Political
Science). I thereafter proceeded to University of Ilorin to do a sandwich
programme in Guidance and Counselling between 2008 and 2013. My father’s name
is Abdullahi Baba, while my mother is Sarat.
Why were you charged to
court?
I commented on a post on the
Facebook page of the factional Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party in the
state, Akogun Iyiola Oyedepo.
What did you write?
Oyedepo had posted on his
Facebook page the day that the Senate President was discharged and acquitted by
the Code of Conduct Tribunal, and I wrote in the comment section that if,
“somebody believes that he is above everybody, he is not above the judgment of
God. If Saraki has been discharged by the CCT, has he been discharged by God?”
Abdulazeez Azeez, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, was
particularly angry when he read my comment. He went to the elders of the party
in my ward to report me, saying I abused the Senate President. I told them that
I did not abuse him and that I just commented on someone else’s post. I told
them that I merely exercised my freedom of expression. They called a meeting of
the executives of the ward to discuss the matter. At the end of the meeting,
they announced my suspension from the All Progressives Congress for three
months.
When were you suspended?
That was about a week after
my Facebook post. I have not been recalled up till now. After that, there was
another post on Facebook which I shared. The message was: ‘Presidency, Osinbajo
replies Saraki on Magu issue.’ I was not the one that wrote it but I shared it.
They saw it on my wall, so they expressed anger again and accused me of posting
another message. They summoned me to another meeting at my ward. From there,
they said they would expel me totally from the party. They went to the APC
local government secretariat and summoned me to the place, I went there to
explain myself. I told them I wrote the first one but that I just shared the
second one. They did not agree with me because it appeared that the ward
chairman had poisoned their minds. After that, we went to the state secretariat
of the party to meet all the stakeholders there. They included the state
Chairman of APC, Mr. Jimoh Adesina; Mr. Isiaka Oniwa; Mr. Ishola
Bolagun-Fulani; and the woman leader, Ramat Oganija, among others.
What happened there?
The ward chairman brought a
lot of people to testify against me. I was the only one on the other side. They
said a lot of things about me. They searched for my name and accused me of
abusing Bukola Saraki when he was turbaned as the Baba Adinni. They alleged
that I wrote many things which I did not write. Again, the state party
executives did not believe me. One of them, Oniwa, stood up from where they
were seated and asked me where I was working. I said I worked at the LGEA
Primary School in the Moro Local Government Area of the state. He then shouted, ‘Ahh! I am the one that
built that school. I will expel you from that job. I will fire you from that
job.’ He sat down. It was at that point that Adesina stood up and vowed to use
his personal money for my prosecution because I (allegedly) abused the party
leader in the state. He is the one that took me to court.
After that, one of those on
the high table said, “This case will not stop here. Let us call security
officers to arrest this boy.” He was referring to me. They called the
Department of State Services to arrest me on that day. Two officials of the DSS
came and dragged me to their office in Ilorin. They gave me a form to write an
undertaking that I will never abuse the senate president again. That was what I
wrote. Three days after, I got a call from my headmaster that the Secretary of
the Local Government Area Education Primary School had said he should fire me.
I immediately went to the secretary to confirm whether it was true or not. When
I got there, he confirmed that the secretary was asked to fire me. My parents
and family members were worried that they would fire me from my job. They took
me to Oniwa to beg him. Initially, I refused to follow them, but they prevailed
on me. At the end of the day, he agreed to look into the case.
But they have expelled you
from APC?
Yes, completely.
Do you regret your action?
Regret? No. I do not regret
my action.
Were you involved in
political activism or union activities during your school days?
I was not involved in any.
How did you get involved in
social media activism?
I cherish the way a lot of
people use social media. It enlightens and exposes me to many things. We can
use social media for social re-engineering and to positively affect governance.
It is part of people’s contributions to national development, especially when
it is used to check the excesses of our leaders.
How did your family members
handle your ordeal?
They were really
apprehensive because they were afraid that that nobody in Kwara State could
defeat Saraki in the court of law. Apart from this, they also believed that
nobody could abuse Saraki and go scot-free. My family members were really angry
with me. However, some people advised them not to be afraid and assured them
that some lawyers would support me.
Were there other sad
experiences you went through apart from the litigation?
Some people lied against me,
saying I wrote a letter of apology, in an attempt to swing the case in their
direction. A letter was hurriedly written a night before the day I was to
appear in court alleging that I had apologised. The letter went viral and people
shared it on social media. Unfortunately, when I appeared in court the next
day, they did not come with that letter, I was expecting them to say in the
court that I had apologised but that did not happen. Even the online medium
that published the fake apology letter refused to present the actual letter
that I allegedly wrote and signed.
At no time did I write any
apology letter. I posted the message on my Facebook page based on my
conviction. I expect my children to follow my example as I believe that I did
the right thing. I was guided by the provisions of the law and I did not go
outside the law to do anything. We should put government on their toes.
Now that you have been
expelled from the APC, what is your next political move?
I still remain a member of
the APC, despite my expulsion, but I cannot participate in the party’s
activities. The expulsion cannot stand because it did not go through the normal
process. It is a form of persecution from people who do not like my face
because I am the Assistant Secretary of the party at Gambari Ward 1. My
expulsion was orchestrated by an APC chieftain in the state, Adesina.
What do you make of the show
of solidarity you enjoyed while your trial lasted?
It showed that we have
reached another level in our political evolution in Kwara State. This matter
has shown that not again in Kwara will people suppress others who criticise
them. Why should people be averse to criticism? I advise Kwarans to speak more.
We have been seen as docile people. Let us speak the truth and stand by the
truth. Justice will always prevail.
How do you feel now that the
case has been withdrawn?
I am very happy. From the
beginning of this case, I was told that it was mere political persecution. I
always believe in speaking the truth and I will always say the truth. But these
people do not like people who say the truth. I am happy that justice has
prevailed at last.
Was there pressure on you
during the case?
Yes! There was pressure from
my people at the ward, local government, even up to the state level; people
really pressurised me over the case.
Can you mention some people
that mounted pressure on you?
People like the Gambari 1
ward chairman, Mr. Zubairu Zubairo, and other chieftains of the party like
Azeez and Ayodeji Saheed.
Do you think the Senate
President has a hand in your ordeal?
I can’t say but I know it is
the work of political sycophants.
What do you expect the
Senate President to do?
The Senate President was
careful in his statement denying any involvement or any link with my ordeal. He
has only denied involvement; he has not done anything more than that. As the
leader of the party in the state, I had expected him to chastise those who took
me to court. He should have cautioned them and made some pronouncement that
would show that he did not tolerate what they did. The sycophants have taken
sycophancy in Kwara to the next level. This was a matter that should have only
been addressed at the party level but when a member takes another member of the
same party to court, will you say that party is united?
The Senate President will do
members of the party in the state greater good by going a step further to
caution those people who persecuted and prosecuted me in order to serve as a
deterrent to others who would want to do the same thing in future.
How many lawyers handled
your case?
We had about 30 lawyers who
represented me on the first day that I appeared in court. The lead lawyer is
Mr. Sambo Muritala.
How much did you pay them?
The legal team appeared pro
bono. We did not pay them anything. We got in touch with one of them and he
mobilised the rest. Even those who were not in court rushed from wherever they
were to appear in court. Some of them were not dressed in their regalia; they
were in the court to support their colleagues who handled my case. From this,
it is clear that there are lawyers that still fight for the downtrodden and the
oppressed to ensure that they get justice. Today in Nigeria, we can still rely
on the judiciary as the last hope of the common man. There was no way I could
have afforded their money if they had charged me. If they did not come to help
me, I would have either been remanded in the Oke-Kura Prison or Mandala Prison.
The lawyers were convinced that I had not done anything wrong but that I only
expressed myself. It was just that somebody somewhere just wanted to please his
godfather.
What have you learnt from
your experience?
There is freedom of
expression. Everybody has the right to express his or her feelings. Young
people should speak out objectively and put our leaders on their toes to ensure
delivery of dividends of democracy. We need to do that in order to liberate
ourselves from this bondage we are in in this state. We must contribute our
quota to national growth and development.
Source:Punch
Tags
Society