‘Orders from above’: Katsina Hisbah detains journalist seeking interview

A journalist with Trust TV, Jamil Mabai, has narrated how he was detained by the Katsina State Hisbah Corps while at the corps’ office on official duty.

The journalist explained that he had gone to the Hisbah headquarters for a follow-up interview with the corps’ Public Relations Officer, Nafiu Akilu, over an incident involving their officers.

Mabai, who narrated his experience on his X handle, said he had wanted to interview the corps’ PRO over a resident, Mallam Gambo, who was shot dead by an officer of the Community Watch Corps.

According to him, while Hisbah officials were trying to shut down a wedding with a DJ, the shots that killed the resident were fired by an operative of the Community Watch Corps tasked with defending communities against bandits attacks.

Mabai said upon getting to the Hibah headquarters for the scheduled interview, he couldn’t get the PRO but unknown to him, his (PRO’s) unavailability was a set-up to detain him.

While waiting, he explained that Hisbah officers approached, detained, and confiscated his phone with claims that their action was an “order from above”.

Tweeting from @jaymb000, Mabai wrote, “While Hisbah officials were trying to shut down a wedding with a DJ, the shots were fired by an operative of the Community Watch Corps tasked with defending communities against bandits.

“Following this incident, I contacted the Katsina Hisbah Public Relations Officer (PRO) to request a follow-up interview regarding Mallam Gambo’s death. Upon my arrival at the Hisbah office, I couldn’t find the PRO. Unknown to me, it was a setup.

“Hisbah officers approached me, claiming they were instructed to detain me. Despite explaining that I was a journalist there for an interview, they insisted and confiscated my phone before holding me in a cell.

“Later, I was brought before the commandant. He threatened me, and he said, ‘I am fighting with religion and there is nothing I or anybody can do against the activities of Hisbah.’ After an hour, I was released.

“The entire ordeal raises serious concerns. I informed them that detaining a journalist on their premises without a reason or opportunity to provide a statement is a clear violation of press freedom.”

Speaking with our correspondent on Thursday, Mabai said he approached the PRO for the follow-up interview after his efforts to get the Katsina Hisbah Commandant General’s attention.

He said, “I had to send a message to the Hisbah commandant the day after the burial of the victim. He died on Friday and I sent a text requesting a follow-up interview on Saturday. Then I reached out to the PRO seeking for his audience to interview him and he approved it and asked me to come on Tuesday morning. But I couldn’t make it in the morning and I put a call across to him to reschedule it till noon and he agreed to it.

“I went there at the agreed time and called him and he asked him to ask any official for the direction to his office. So, when I approached one person who was leading me and my cameraman to the place, then some officers came up to us and asked me to follow them, we went into one office and they claimed they were asked to detain me.

“I explained to them that I was there for an interview with the PRO. They explained that the PRO was not around and they had been ordered to detain me. I asked them to let me place a call to my lawyer for him to know I was there but they responded by telling me that the earlier I cooperate with them, the better for me. Then, they confiscated my phone and took me into a cell.

“After like seven minutes, they came for me again and took me to the commandant’s office and that was when I realised that it was more of a personal grouse.

“So, when I left the commandant’s office, I saw the PRO and I asked him why would you do such a thing. You are supposed to be a bridge between journalists and your organisation and to now use this as a setup is disturbing. Then he said he was alerted that there was a directive that I should be detained and they decided to kill two birds with one stone.”

Reacting to Mabai’s claims, the Hisbah PRO, Akilu, said he was not aware of the journalist’s ordeal.

“Yes, I know the journalist. He called me for an interview and I asked him to come to our office for the interview and he came. By the time he came, I was not around. When I got back from official duty, I met him at the commandant general’s office.

“But, when I saw the story on social media, I called Mabai to inquire how about it, and he told me he didn’t know where it (the story) came from and he (Mabai) claimed that it was probably the person he came with who left him at the commandant general’s office that started the rumour. So, I don’t know about the rumour of his detention,” the spokesperson told our correspondent during an interview on Thursday