“It’s a Witch-hunt”, Northern Group Reacts As DSS Arrest Dogara

The Concerned Northern Forum (CNF) has expressed concern on the report of the arrest of Alh. Aminu Yaro Dogara, the Sarkin Hausawa of Lagos State and Chairman of Council Arewa Chiefs in Southern Nigeria by the Department of State Services, DSS, over what it described as a “connection to the ongoing investigation of the suspended CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele”.

Mohammed Danlami, Chairman, Board of Trustee, CNF, in a statement said, “We demand the immediate and unconditional release of Alhaji Aminu Yaro Dogara, because the law is clear, charge the case to court and not continuous detention of an individual without any legal definition. It is also inhumane to arrest and continue to detain such an elderly man with couples if health challenges and keep him away from his family.”

He called on President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to be aware of banana peels, and not to allow himself to bite the hands that are feeding him as 2027 is around the corner.

He admonished the Director-General of the DSS to know that no amount of desecration of Arewa tradition would make him stay longer than God’s appointed time on the seat he never dreamt of occupying, saying that it was God’s will for him to be called from retirement to occupy the seat and in the same way Nigerian Customs Service has been returned to serving officers, the case of DSS, won’t be different.

The chairman also called on the traditional rulers of Arewa extraction to wake up and fight to protect one of their own, stressing that his arrest is an assault and conspiracy against the Northern traditional institution.

He lamented, “The country is already polarised along ethnic line and regional segregation, arresting this important traditional figure will only lead to more harm than good and add more problems to the stock of existing ones.”

According to the statement, the group sees the arrest of Dogara as an affront to Arewa tradition and a desperate attempt to humiliate their leaders, which when left unchallenged, will lead to the breeding of internal colonialism by a man they willingly and gladly voted for, despite being challenged morally, historically, and integrity-wise. It pointed out that they did so to uphold the unity of the country and their love for unity should not be mistaken for weakness.

The statement added, “The arrest of Sarki’s wife is a brutality to the sacred Arewa culture, an innocent woman without any negative incidence in the public domain. On the other hand, the DG’s wife has had a negative public display, an incidence involving the now Governor of Kano State, Engineer Abba Kabir at the airport. If any woman need arresting, the DG should look inward and do the needful.”