The police authorities in Nigeria have released Mahdi Shehu, a Katsina born and Kaduna based businessman and critic of the Nigerian government.
He was arrested on February 6 following a petition from the law office of a former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN) on behalf of the former minister and his family.
Some source was quoted saying “I was told that he was arrested pursuant to a petition written by the chambers of the former AGF, Abubakar Malami on behalf of Malami and his family. The letter came with the letterhead of A.A. Malami & Co. Law Office and the petition is on behalf of Malami and his family.
“He was arrested by the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Monitoring Unit at the Force Headquarters IN Abuja,” the source had said.
There were reports that that M. I. Abubakar, a lawyer representing Mahdi Shehu, accused Malami and other cabals in Muhammadu Buhari’s immediate past government of using the police detention to silence his client for demanding accountability from them.
In June 2023, Shehu had alleged that Malami and the then-Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), AbdulRasheed Bawa tried to use the naira redesign policy to install an interim government, which would have ensured that President Bola Tinubu did not emerge as President.
He had called for the arrest of Malami following the arrest of Bawa, tweeting, “ARREST MALAMI NOW OR RELEASE BAWA BECAUSE: He nominated him. He supervised him. He teleguided him. Malami prosecuted cases selectively. He discharged & acquitted suspects by cherry-picking. He ignored several court orders. He holds the judiciary in contempt.”
According to Shehu, former President Muhammadu Buhari endorsed the policy without knowing there was a hidden agenda behind it.
He also had tweeted, “Emefiele, Bawa & ongoing investigation so far: For certain political (mis) calculations, Malami prompted Bawa to write a memo to PMB recommending for Naira redesign.
“Malami endorsed the memo & forwarded to PMB, who blindly directed EME to implement. It was all about INTERIM GOVT.”
Between November and December 2020, Shehu was also detained for 11 days on the orders of the then-Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu.
