The arrest comes after Mokwa allegedly referred to Bago as “Governor Amunike” in his public criticisms, sources told A2zgist.
Isah Mokwa, a master’s degree student at Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai, and an ardent critic of Niger State governor Umar Bago’s administration, has reportedly been taken by the Nigerian police in his home in Lapai and taken to the police headquarters in Minna.
The arrest comes after Mokwa allegedly referred to Bago as “Governor Amunike” in his public criticisms, sources told A2zgist.
‘Governor Amunike’ is a mocking nickname that some social media users apply to certain governors or politicians to ridicule them as clueless, boastful, or underperforming.
The term originates from Emmanuel Amunike, the former Nigerian footballer and Super Eagles winger. In political slang, however, it’s used sarcastically, not to insult Amunike himself, but to suggest that the politician being mocked is “playing politics like bad football” or “kicking governance around without direction.”
A2zgist gathered that the arrest may also be linked to a series of critical articles written against the administration of the Niger State governor.
Before his detention, Mokwa had raised concerns about unusual police activity around his residence.
He told SaharaReporters, “There has been a suspicious move by two Lapai division police officers this evening at my lodge. They came, and I was somewhere around the area, and they met my roommate, Dula, and asked where I was, and he told them I stepped out. And ever since then, I haven’t got a call from them or heard anything.”
In the statement, Mokwa suggested he feared for his safety, explaining, “So I suspect that move. So if before tomorrow anything happens, Dula knows the policemen who came. His office is the first office at the station in the crime section. And in case they want to come and bundle me early in the morning tomorrow, just be alert.
“Tell the world I only stand for the truth and nothing but the truth, and I will never back down on that.”
Mokwa had also used Facebook to call attention to other issues in the state six days before his detention.
Addressing the governor, he wrote, “Dear governor Amunike of Niger State. Before we go see you on national television and try to justify the lies, please be aware that our problem is not where the ghost farm is located. Our problem is not those graduate assistants receiving 500k. Our problem is not you going to decorate what you have said earlier on Arise TV.”
In the same post, he listed major concerns affecting residents, including banditry, flood victims, unpaid pensions, scholarships, and problems with universities and hospitals.
“Pls note down our major problems: Bandits in zone B and C in Niger State, Pensioners, Mokwa flood victims, Scholarship wey u approve, New university that you create con dey robe student and parent 360k per section and u con dey kill the existing one IBB with low founding and zero infrastructure, IBB teaching hospital wey u carry go Minna con abandon am. Pls help us attend to these issues and we go appreciate you,” he said.
Mokwa concluded by acknowledging the government’s efforts in infrastructure while questioning the slow pace of the projects.
“Meanwhile we appreciate you for the good things wey you don do so far as a government especially for the roads and bridges wey u dey do for Minna but why the work slow like that and why till now them never finish anyone?” he said.
Efforts by A2zgist to get a comment from Niger State Police Public Relations Officer Wasiu Abiodun proved unsuccessful, as messages sent to him were unanswered.
