Aminu Adam Mohammed, the university undergraduate who was picked up and arrested by the Nigerian authorities over a tweet he made on the Nigerian First Lady, Aisha Buhari has finally apologized to the First Lady upon his release on Friday.
Mr Mohammed, accused and taken to court for defaming the First Lady, was freed and the charges against him dropped on “compassionate” grounds.
He was initially detained for ‘defaming Aisha Buhari suggesting she was feeding fat on public funds, an allegation he denied.
However, in a strange twist of event over the weekend, Mohammed had apologized to Mrs. Buhari for the initial tweet., asking for her forgiveness. An action that most people who had supported Mohammed found to be disappointing.
”It was never my intention to hurt your feelings” he said, promising to ”change for the better.”
Mr Mohammed also thanked Mrs Buhari for forgiving him, describing her as ”our mother.”
He described his experience as ”the darkest hours of my life.”
He did not give details but he expressed his ”heartfelt gratitude” to those who showed him support saying his case should serve as a ”lesson to all of us”.
It will be recalled that the action by the authorities had sparked outrage among the people many of whom condemned the act calling it ‘repressive.’ The international community along with Amnesty International had equally disapproved of the way and manner the Nigerian authorities handled Mohammed’s case in what it described as aclear violation of his fundamental human rights.
Mr Mohammed is a final year student studying environmental management at the Federal University in Dutse, in the northern state of Jigawa, and is due to start his final exams on Monday.