The Department of State Services (DSS) has debunked a report that its operatives arrested one of the judges of the Kano State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal that ruled on the state’s 2023 gubernatorial election.
The secret police’s refutal comes in the wake of the allegation by the Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to the Kano State Governor, Sanusi Bature, who stated that the Kano State government believed that the judges that handled the judgment of the March 18 election were intimidated and arrested by the security agencies.
While speaking to PRNigeria on the phone, the spokesperson of the DSS, Dr. Peter Afunanya, denied the claim by the Kano Governor’s spokesperson.
Afunanya said, “This is a very ridiculous statement. Arresting judges for what reason? It is not true, please.”
Recall that while speaking during an interview on Channels Television, the CPS said, “There is no reason why the DSS can arrest a judge without any suspicion. The DSS arrested one of the judges who delivered the judgement in Kano, and I believe that is intimidation.
“Even with this virtual judgement they delivered, we do not know where they delivered it from. Probably, they delivered the judgement under duress or whatever; I am not sure. We do not know the location from which they delivered the judgement, and we do not know their condition because we could only see them on the screen.
“A lot of things happened behind the scenes, and to our surprise, the person who was declared the winner was not even involved in the case. Gawuna contested the election, accepted defeat, congratulated Abba Kabir, and said that he was not going to court.”
