The state Commissioner for Environment, Mr. Gabriel Akaaka, told Northern City News on Tuesday that he ordered for the boy’s arrest and detention.
“I ordered the arrest and detention of the 17-year-old student, Stephen Tabulo, for openly declaring support for the 2019 senatorial bid of the state Governor Umaru Al-Makura on Facebook,” he said.
Our correspondent learnt that the Special Anti-Robbery Squad team of the state police command, acting on the instructions of the commissioner, detained Tabulo for insisting on the Facebook that the Tiv people in the Nasarawa South senatorial district would vote massively for Al-Makura in 2019.
The controversy began when one Mr. Peter Igbacher, an ally of the commissioner, posted a story published in a newspaper with the caption ‘2019: stakeholders plot against Al-Makura’s senatorial ambition’ on his Facebook page.
The post reportedly generated reactions from Tabulo and other members of the constituency resulting in the teenager’s arrest on Monday.
Speaking to our correspondent shortly after he was granted bail at the police station, Tabulo explained that his offence was his open declaration of support for the senatorial bid of the governor in 2019 against the wish of the environment commissioner.
He said, “I am a JSS III student at the Government Secondary School Adudu, Lafia Local Government Area of Nasarawa State. I was in Lafia to visit my elder brother when I decided to contribute to a Facebook discussion on the wall of Peter Igbacher where I declared my full support for the governor.
“The SARS policemen traced me throughout the weekend on the orders of the commissioner and later arrested me on Monday afternoon at the residence of the councillor representing Assakyo Ward, Dauglas Charmeh.
“They told me that my offence was my comment on the Facebook,” he narrated.
He, however, insisted that his detention could not prevent him from supporting the governor in 2019, adding that he would continue to identify with Al-Makura.
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