Politics

Alhassan A. Doguwa: My Opponents Have Occupied The Media Space With Their Propaganda

Posted by: Roland Osakwe | March 4, 2023

Alhasan Ado Doguwa, the majority leader in Nigeria's House of Representatives, has claimed he is feeling extremely dejected because he is going through an "unfair media trial" and his own account has not been taken into consideration.

â€œThereâ€™s so much propaganda being circulated out there, and when I heard what they are saying about me, I feel so bad. My opponents have occupied the media space with their propaganda, and no one cared to hear my side of the story. Itâ€™s very terrible.â€

Through one of his media assistants, he told our reporter that his struggles were related to his electoral victory on Saturday, February 25, 2023.

Doguwa, who is being held in a Kano detention facility on remand, swore he doesn't own a gun and has no idea how to use one.

â€œOn three occasions before the election, my property was vandalized by thugs from a rival political party; my vehicles were razed at Filin KASCO in Tudun Wada; the storage house where I kept food items meant for distribution to people in my constituency as palliative to ease the hardship caused by currency scarcity were looted; and my Guest House at the Kwankwasiyya Estate was isolated for vandalisation on the day Kwankwaso came to Kano few days to election, Doguwa said.

â€œI reported all these to the police and the DSS, but nothing was done till now.

â€œNow, mind you, the DCP CID who arrested me and has been spearheading my investigation and prosecution is a biological brother to my political foe, Nura Dankadai, who raised the petition that led to my arrest.

â€œTake note that this was the first time Iâ€™m winning an election in Tudun Wada, and we got reports that some NNPP boys were going to raze the INEC office which was near the Kwankwasiyya office in the local government. I understood that they were aiming to sabotage my electoral victory in Tudun Wada. So, we rushed to inform the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in the local government and the Area Commander.

â€œWe were there with the police as the NNPP boys came and engaged our supporters. That was how INEC office was rescued until the election results were announced, and I was declared winner.

â€œAll of a sudden, they started circulating the falsehood that I shot someone and so on. They got the DCP CID to arrest me in such an unprecedented haste.

â€œIt is important to note that the DPO to whom we reported the planned arson, who was present when the clash between our men and NNPP men happened, was not contacted.

â€œSo far, investigation reports that are available do not contain the position of the men of the police on ground. All that they have are narratives from politicians belonging to the other side. The FIR preferred against me was based on such a one-sided and biased report.

â€œAnd, as I pointed out earlier, the head of the CID is a biological brother to one of the politicians involved. He has not been unbiased so far. In fact, he can never be seen to be unbiased.â€

â€œIâ€™m a law-abiding citizen. Iâ€™m not above the law. Iâ€™m ready to face trial, only that justice must not only be done, it must be seen to have been done. I did not shoot a gun at anyone.

â€œDo you know that the alleged victim of the gun-shot, who said he knew me, could not even identify me during a suspect parade? Instead, he pointed at the local government chairman as the person that shot him.

â€œThat tells you one of two things. Either that he does not really know who shot him but was tutored to mention my name, or that he really knew who shot and had identified him appropriately.

â€œI swear in the name of Almighty Allah, I did not shoot a gun at anyone. I donâ€™t own a gun and I donâ€™t know how to shoot a gun. The only time I ever held a gun was for a ceremonial shooting when I represented the Speaker of the House of Representatives at the commissioning of a military unit in Kano State.â€

Meanwhile, a Kano-based legal practitioner had opined that since the lawmaker is being charged mainly for homicide and unlawful possession of forearms, the matters are supposed to be prosecuted before the state High Court.

He queried the rationale behind taking him to the Magistrateâ€™s Court.

â€œThey want to exercise the powers under a section of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law (ACJL) which says they can keep him for seven days, and extent it for another seven days. But those powers have been declared unconstitutional in various cases.

â€œSo why did they have to take him there, when a deputy commissioner of police is in charge of the matter. This smacks of suspicion they were deliberately out to witch-hunt him.

â€œAlso, the FIR involves interview of his political opponents only. No security reports from Tudun Wada local government; nothing from the DPO or any other security operatives in Tudun Wada.

â€œIt appears that the DCP CID, Umar Dankadai, is willing to rely only on skewed opinions.

â€œIâ€™m particularly bothered that the DCP and the former commissioner for budget and planning, who resigned from his position to join NNPP, Nura Dankadai, are brothers. That is a premeditated bias. The whole thing may have been planned to embarrass the lawmaker, and to keep him out of circulation so that the coming gubernatorial election will be conducted without his participation. I think it could be political persecution,â€ the lawyer, who does not want to be named said.

But, Bashir Yusuf Tudun Wuzurci, the lawyer who wrote the letter of complaint leading to Doguwaâ€™s arrest, said â€œwe put pressure on the police to take him before the court when we realised that there are moves to release him.

â€œWe realised that their case diary is ready, having gotten witnesses, but charges have not been preferred, and under the ACJL â€œremand proceedings is allowedâ€, so the Magistrateâ€™s court is not holding under the pretex that it can hear the matter. It is based on remand proceedings.â€

A political associate of the lawmaker told our reporter that â€œAlhasssan Ado Doguwa is facing a real conspiracy to stop him from emerging the Speaker of the House of Representatives in the coming dispensation. This conspiracy is not against him as a person alone. It is equally against Kano State as a whole. Our state stands the chance to clinch the number four seat in the country this time, and some people want to truncate that chance. It is unfortunate.â€