Published By Olukayode Idowu
Borno State Commissioner of Police, Abdu Umar has confirmed the arrest of four miscreants who attacked and brutalised a female restaurant owner in Maiduguri, Ms. Fadila Abdulrahman.
Abdulrahman was rumoured to have been attacked by at her restaurant situated at Shehu Sanda Kyarimi Park in Maiduguri by
political thugs with allegiance to one of the lawmakers representing the state at the House of Representatives for attacking the personality of their benefactor on the social media.
The governor of the state, Prof. Babagana Zulum on hearing of the attack, directed security agencies to fish out the culprits and make them to face the full wrath of the law.
The governor’s attention was drawn to the incidents after many residents of the state took to their social media platforms alleging that, the incident was sponsored or directed by Hon. Ahmed Satomi, member representing Jere Federal Constituency of Borno state after the lady accused him (Satomi) publicly on her facebook wall, an allegation that the lawmaker has since denied and exonerate himself from.
The residents backlash followed a recorded video which went viral on social media where a leader of the miscreants suspected to be political thugs, was heard abusing the lady and threatened to kill her if she continue attacking Hon. Satomi..
The leader of the miscreants had threatened the woman in the viral video that: “Be careful, otherwise we will waste you.”
The police commissioner immediately swung into action arresting four suspects, Bello Musa aka Al-Shabba, 24 years; Nasiru Abubakar a.k.a. Mane, 22 years; Mala Mohammed a.k.a Bobby, 30 years and Ali Shettima a.k.a Ari, 25 years.
Reacting to the incident, in a press statement he personally signed on Monday, Satomi condemned the incident, and distanced himself from the act.
“I, Hon Ahmed Satomi, Member House of Representatives (Jere Federal Constituency of Borno State) regret that my attention has been drawn to an incident that happended with Ms. Fadila Abdullaraham last Sunday, January 22, at Shehu Sanda Kyarimi Park in Maiduguri.
“I am deeply saddened by the occurrence of such incident and especially to a woman, but more worrisome that this was perpetrated under my name.
“I want to categorically exonerate my humble self from this act and any of such that occur in the future.
“It is on records that i am a staunch lover and supporter of economic self- reliance and development, and has a history even before I became a lawmaker representing the good people of Jere Federal Constituency. This fact has not changed and I am still on a drive to support the vulnerable and motivating many young people looking up to me as a role model.
“I want to use this medium to assure the general public that since I received the news, I have alerted the relevant security agencies to carry full investigation and bring the perpetrators of this dastardly act to book, and justice for Fadila will be served as appropriate.”
He added that: “I would want to reiterate the fact that I would never harbour criminals and their acts, I do not support political thuggery (ECOMOGS) as widely stipulated or insinuated.
“I am in full support of Governor Babagana Umara Zulum’s policy on banning of all thuggery activities across Borno State and will ensure that together we record zero to any form of violence across our dear state.
“On a final note, I sympathize with Ms. Fadila on the unfortunate incidence, and urge the general public to be calm while we ensure she gets justice. Be rest assured of my commitment to justice and betterment of the lives of the good people of Jere, Borno and by extension Nigerians as a whole.”
Meanwhile, Concerned Jere Progressive Group (COJEPG) and the entire supporters of Hon. Ahmed Satomi have expressed shock over the incident, while describing the report on social media as unsubstantiated claims and baseless.
Leader of COJEPG, Comrade Mustapha Kwali at a press briefing in Maiduguri said: “We categorically exonerate our own Federal Lawmaker, Hon Satomi from such act, giving the fact that, the Lawmaker who has been doing all he could to better the lives of the people of the state before, during when he was the Chairman of Borno State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) and as well, after he became the federal lawmaker representing the good people of Jere, is unprecedented and a welcome development by all and sundry.
Kwali, who was flanked by the members of COJEPG, at the briefing, said: “It is worrisome that some who chose do be paid critics of Satomi for no justifiable reason took to their social media platforms, especially Facebook pages.
“This incident and social media posts against our lawmaker is shameless, as Hon Satomi’s Facebook account was hacked since more than one year, and he chose not to be on Facebook.
“We are particularly shocked to also came across a posts doctored by same critics who wrote, shared or neither posted on behalf of the owner of the restaurant, Fadila Abdulrahman with all sorts of accusations against our Lawmaker.
“To this end, in as much as we don’t want to join issues with some social media users who are hell bent, to cut the story short for clarity purpose, we urge the general public to please disassociate themselves from these baseless and unsubstantiated claims, as our federal Lawmaker, Hon Satomi will never be distracted in his quest to better the lives of Jereians, the good people of Borno and by extension Nigerians as a whole.”
