Audu Maikori, a Nigerian lawyer and CEO of
Chocolate City Entertainment, has been
arrested by the police. The arrest is linked to
his tweets about a fatal attack on his relatives
in Southern Kaduna that turned out to be false,
his lawyer said Friday.
Mark Jacobs told PREMIUM TIMES that Mr.
Maikori, 41, was arrested in Lagos around noon
Friday by a team of police officers attached to
inspector-general monitoring and intelligence
team and was immediately transferred to the
Force Headquarters in Abuja.

“I arrived at the Force Headquarters and learnt
that a detention order has already been signed
for him,” Mr. Jacobs said of his client. “I am
not sure he will be released tonight.”
Mr. Jacobs said he was told by the police that
a magistrate issued warrant for Mr. Maikori’s
arrest and are planning to charged him with
attempt to “incite” the public.
Police spokesman, Jimoh Moshood, did not
immediately respond to PREMIUM TIMES’
requests for comments Friday night.
The arrest of Mr. Maikori, a vocal advocate for
the plight of residents of the restive area, came
nearly four weeks after he narrated an attack
that purportedly took place in Southern Kaduna.

In a series of tweets on January 23, Mr. Maikori
said his driver, later identified as Simon Joseph,
told him that he lost his brother in a Fulani
herdsmen ambush in Southern Kaduna and will
be travelling for burial.
“My driver’syounger brother and five others
students of college of education Gidan Waya
were ambushed and killed by herdsmen
yesterday #SouthernKaduna.
“They were in a commercial car going back to
school when the driver stopped suddenly under
the pretext of checking his engine
#SouthernKaduna.

“As soon as the car stopped the attackers shot
all 6 students but let the driver who is Fulani
go. He gave us these details#SouthernKaduna.
“When we speak we are viewed as trouble
makers by the Govt. Well I have seen the
pictures and it’s a painful
sight#SouthernKaduna,” Mr.
Social media users became livid after Mr.
Maikori’s vivid naration of the purported attack.
The tweets were later picked up by some
Nigerian newspaperswithout further checks.
Two days later, Kaduna State College of
Education in Gidan Waya, where Mr. Maikori
said the students were schooling, issued a
statement denying any loss of students to an
attack as described by Mr. Maikori.
The Kaduna State Government condemned the
misinformation and the reporter responsible for
the story in Vanguard Newspaper was arrested
and charged.

On February 4, following intense criticism on
social media, Mr. Maikori retracted and
apologised for posting the tweets in a lenghty
article that also offered detailed explanation of
how he was misled by Mr. Joseph.
“I hereby tender an unreserved and sincere
apology to the Management of the College of
Education, Gidan Waya, His Excellency the
Governor of Kaduna State and the Kaduna State
Government, and also to the people of Southern
Kaduna and the Fulani community and also
VANGUARD newspapers whose source was my
driver for the false statement by my driver
which I also publicized believing same to be
true,” Mr. Maikori wrote.
Mr. Jacob said Mr. Maikori’s driver was
arrested a few days ago in Lagos, and had
remained in detention ever since.
Mr. Maikori’s arrest caused social media buzz
late Friday, with a prominent human rights
activist and legal expert, Chidi Odinkalu, calling
for his immediate release.
Mr. Odinkalu, a former Chairman of National
Human Rights Commission, was among the first
to raise alarm about Mr. Audu’s arrest Friday
night.

“They should immediately release him because
he had apologised for the tweets and I don’t
think the matter is a criminal offence that
warrants him being locked up for so many
days,” Mr. Odinkalu told PREMIUM TIMES by
telephone.
Over 200 have been killed and thousands more
displaced in the latest violence between Fulani
herdsmen and southern Kaduna residents.
A curfew Governor Nasir el-Rufai imposed in
Zangon Kataf was relaxed last week.
Mr. El-Rufai said the attackers were herdsmen
from neighbouring countries who had returned
to avenge attacks on their relatives and
livestock back in 2011.
The governor came under fire after admitting he
had sent payments to the attackers to
compensate for their losses, as part of efforts
by his government to end the bloodshed.
A foundation laid by the Nigerian Army for the
construction of a military base in the area was
destroyed last week.