By Najib Sani
Bauchi
The immediate past Governor of Bauchi state, Mallam Isa Yuguda, has alleged that the Police, in the state, violated his fundamental human rights by putting him under house arrest, intimidated and harassed his supporters when he returned to the state recently.
Yuguda made the allegations at the weekend through his spokesman and former Commissioner of Information, Alhaji Salisu Barau, while addressing journalists in Bauchi.
He lamented that the state police command, in collaboration with the state government, allegedly humiliated him before a multitude of his supporters, who trooped out to welcome him after more than a year’s absence from the country.
“The police have violated my fundamental human right and intimidated me. I have been put under 12-hour house arrest on November 24 in Bauchi by the Bauchi State Police Command when I visited home.
“I was not going for any public procession or political rally, so my homecoming had nothing to do with the order given by state government and the police banning public gatherings and processions”, he decried.
The ex-former governor said he informed the Inspector General of Police (IGP) of his return to the state and he directed the state commissioner of police to deploy 10 mobile policemen to escort him claiming, however, that to his utmost shock, neither the Bauchi Police Commissioner nor his men were at the airport when the flight be boarded landed.
“As a result, crowd of supporters at the airport became uncontrollable and that made us vulnerable to potential attacks”, he alleged.
Reacting to the allegation, the Bauchi state acting Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP Haruna Mohammed, said the police only acted on the intelligence they received to do what they did.
“We have access to intelligence and we acted on it. It is our routine security measure to avert any breakdown of law and order because we have reports that some people are planning to disrupt the peace in the state,”he said.
