Enyioha Opara, Minna Protesters on Tuesday stormed the Niger State High Court, Minna in solidarity with the ex-governor of the state, Babangida Aliyu, who was arraigned for corruption by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. Aliyu, who was picked up by the EFCC operatives from his Abuja home three weeks ago, arrived at the Minna […]
Enyioha Opara, Minna
Protesters on Tuesday stormed the Niger State High Court, Minna in solidarity with the ex-governor of the state, Babangida Aliyu, who was arraigned for corruption by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
Aliyu, who was picked up by the EFCC operatives from his Abuja home three weeks ago, arrived at the Minna High Court 11 presided over by Justice Aliyu Maiyaki at exactly 8.40am in a black Toyota land cruiser jeep with registration No. NPF 6914C.
He was brought in with his former Chief of Staff, Umar Nasko, also facing trial with his erstwhile boss.
Pro-Aliyu supporters who were in the court in solidarity with the former governor were, however, disallowed from entering the court premises by over 150 heavily armed security agents. But the protesters defied the scorching sun as they stayed few metres from the court premises, chanting pro-Aliyu songs.
The protesters carried placards with different inscriptions some of which read, ‘In Talba we trust,’ ‘Talba we know,’ ‘EFCC is a political dog,’ ‘Free Talba, there are more thieves in APC than PDP,’ and ‘There is no change.’
They stated that the trial of the former governor was political, saying, “there are even more thieves in APC than PDP.”
They queried the decision of the anti-graft agency to arrest the former governor years after he left office, describing it as a political witch-hunt by the APC-led government.
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Tanwa Ashiru
Tanwa Ashiru is a U.S Airforce veteran, and the CEO of Bulwark Intelligence Solutions. She holds an M.A in Intelligence Studies from American Military University (AMU) and is a Fellow of the Association of Enterprise Risk Management Professionals (AERMP).
Tanwa has provided services for various public and private sector organizations including: NATO, Nigerian DIA, U.S Army Africa Forces (USARAF), Total E&P, IBM Nigeria, U.S Embassy Abuja and many more.
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