Mukhtar Ibrahim Aminu, a 24-year-old man, was jailed for 10 days after insulting a state governor on Facebbok, and was release on Thursday. Aminu posted an "uncooth" message about Sule Lamido, current governor of the Mulsim state Jigawa, after the governor's public support of presidential candidate Goodluck Jonathan in the upcoming April elections. Jonathan, a Christian, has faced resistence in the Muslim north.
Aminu posted "O Allah destroy Sule Lamido and the rest of his friends" on Facebook, a statement which has no been removed. He was arrested on Janurary 19 and sent to trial on the 29. At first, the judge ordered that the man spend more time in jail, a verdict that was later retracted and Aminu set free. The commissioner has told reports that the governor dropped charges and withdrew the case in public intrest.
Ibrahim Aminu, father of the convicted man, is a former member of the Nigerian State Parliment. He believes that Lamido jailed his on simply to settle the political score against him.
Mukhtar Ibrahim Aminu has since been hositalized because of "tramau" from the incident.
This incident shows the inability of citizens in Nigerian to excersice freedom of speech against their government. Simply for speeching out against a political figure on a social media site, and man was jailed on perfectly acceptable grounds. The incident also shows the deep religious cleavages within Nigeria between the Muslim north and Christian south.
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