By Achadu Gabriel
A northern Nigerian rights activist, Rev. Kallamu Musa Ali Dikwa, has alleged he was intimidated, harassed, and humiliated by a his country’s police investigative officer during an interrogation in Abuja.
“When I was writing my statement, the IPO tried to direct me to write what my petitioners wanted, so that I could implicate myself on their so-called petition against me, but I refused to do what he wanted me to do,” said Dikwa, the Director General of the Centre for Justice on Religious and Ethnicity in Nigeria,
Rev. Dikwa was invited to appear before the Nigeria Police Force, Federal Criminal Investigation Department (FCID) on Thursday, August 29, 2024, over a petition against him by a group of lawyers alleging criminal libel and defamation of character against Vice President Kashim Shettima.
In a statement, Rev. Dikwa claimed that his photograph was taken by the IPO, which he described as strange and suspicious.
“My phone was seized multiple times, and my picture was taken. I was threatened with detention, while the petitioners made calls to know what I was going through in the hands of the IPO, Mr. Peter,” he sated
He said a group of lawyers had petitioned the IGP over publications in national dailies credited to him and Pastor Abdullahi, alleging a N13 billion corruption scandal against the Managing Director of North East Development Commission (NEDC), Mohammed Goni Alkali, and Vice President Shettima.
Rev. Dikwa alleged that the IPO called his petitioners outside the office, updating them on what would happen to him. He claimed that the IPO told him to call a level 16 civil servant to come and bail him out, but he refused, stating that he did not know anyone of that level. The IPO allegedly told him that his lawyer could not bail him out, but the DCP and CP intervened, directing the IPO to allow him to write a self-bail, which he did.”