The Department of State Services (DSS) has confirmed the arrest of Salihu Tanko-Yakasai, a former aide of Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State.
There have been concerns over his whereabouts since his criticism of the government of President Muhammadu Buhari.
His father had earlier dismissed the reports that his son was missing, saying it was security operatives who took him away.
In a statement on Saturday evening, Peter Afunanya, DSS spokesman, said the former aide of Kano governor is under investigation.
“This is to confirm that Salihu Tanko-Yakasai is with the Department of State Services. He is being investigated over issues beyond the expression of opinions in the social media as wrongly alleged by sections of the public,” the statement read.
OBSERVERS TIMES recall the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) demands the immediate and unconditional release of Salihu Yakasai, son of elder statesman, Tanko Yakasai, from security custody.
The party describes the reported arrest of Salihu by security operatives as well as his alleged detention in a secret facility, just after his criticism against the Buhari administration’s failures in the fight against banditry in our country, as completely unacceptable.
Salihu Yakasai’s ordeal is a sad reminder of the sudden disappearance of another known critic of the Buhari administration, Abubakar Idris, popularly known as Abu Hanifa Dadiyata, since August 2019.
The PDP reminds agents of the APC-led administration that Nigeria is a democratic nation and that the rights of citizens, including their freedom of expression, within the ambit of the law, are firmly guaranteed in the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and as such, must be respected.
Our party therefore rejects the arrest of Salihu Yakasai, for joining other patriotic Nigerians in demanding a Presidential commitment of a decisive action to rescue the abducted Zamfara schoolgirls as well as to end all acts of terrorism in our country.