Posted by Prof. Zainab Duke Abiola was remanded in Suleja Prison by a magistrate’s court in Wuse, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, for assaulting Inspector Teju Moses, a police orderly attached to her.
On Friday, she and her housekeeper Rebecca Enechido were both arraigned.
The officer was shown demanding to be carried to the hospital for treatment while bleeding in a video footage that went viral on Wednesday.
He was seated on the ground.
Abiola, a lawyer and human rights advocate, was charged by the police with attempted culpable homicide and malicious insult with the aim to defame.
The professor was not granted bail in the court on Friday, and the case was postponed until October 5, 2022.
At addition, the magistrate mandated that she be held in Suleja Prison until the new date was set.
Abiola had earlier denied hitting the officer and questioned why the IGP would violate “a distinguished law-abiding citizen’s fundamental Rights and liberties” by forcibly taking her image and publishing it maliciously in print and electronic media in our fledgling democratic system.
“Our attention has been drawn to a fallacious malicious defamatory publication against our respected alumnus of the National Institute of Policy and Security Studies, NIPPS, Professor Zainab Duke Mni alleging assault on one of her police Orderlies,” she said in a statement released on her behalf by the Afro-European Lawyers League.
We firmly assert that this is NOT true and that nothing could be more false. For the record, Professor Zainab has never physically abused anyone, anywhere, at any time. It does not fit with who she is.
The following facts are true: 1. On April 20, 2022, the IGP approved the revalidation and deployment of police orderlies to our commander on the grounds that she serves as the Nigerian Police’s Chief Legal Consultant and maintains an office at the Force headquarters in Abuja.
“2. That a female police officer who participated in acts of violence against defenseless Nigerian citizens during the ENDSARS controversy was subsequently allocated by the police.
3. That as a result of learning that her Orderly had participated in police violence against Nigerians, Professor Zainab opposed the appointment of a violent officer, sent the Orderly back to Force Headquarters with her employers, and bid her farewell on September 19.
4. That, much to our surprise, the former Orderly returned with a vengeance and banged on our gates at 10 p.m., brandishing some lethal weapons, including a gun, and threatening to kill everyone inside the facility.
5. That a throng quickly gathered, and there was street violence, mass fighting, and property loss as can be seen in the video.
“6. That it is extremely odd that the IGP will violate a distinguished law-abiding citizen’s fundamental rights and liberties by taking her pictures against her will and then maliciously publishing them in the print and electronic media in this nascent democratic dispensation,” the statement continued.
“We hereby call on President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately sack the Inspector General of Police and bring him to book to face the consequences of this gross violation of our constitution as Alkali Baba Usman is NOT a fit and proper person to hold the office of IOP,” the attorneys said in a statement calling for the IGP’s dismissal.