Malami reveals why Mahdi Shehu was arrested

Erstwhile Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), has explained that a whistleblower, Mahdi Shehu, was arrested for attempted extortion.

Daily Trust Saturday had earlier reported Shehu’s claim through his lawyer, Mohammed Abubakar, that he was arrested on Tuesday in Abuja for calling on President Bola Tinubu to probe former President Muhammadu Buhari and some of his top officials.

A statement from Malami’s firm signed by A.A. Sherif, a lawyer, alleged that Shehu was arrested in Kaduna when he tried to take advantage of his wife, Aisha, for a sum of $500,000.

While Sheriff rejected the activist’s accusations, he revealed that the suspect was apprehended for charges related to engaging in extortion, criminal intimidation and attempting to deceive a syndicate through the use of GSM numbers and email addresses to acquire money by deceptive means.

“Our attention has been drawn to the above press statement made on February 7, 2024, as well as that of January 2024; and we, as solicitors to Mr Abubakar Malami, SAN, and his family, noted with grave concern that the press statement is not correct, misleading, malicious and a gross misrepresentation of the facts leading to the arrest. Therefore, we write to set the record straight for the benefit of the public. Without prejudice to the police investigation that is ongoing, the facts relate to the complaint/petition which we wrote to the Inspector-General of Police on allegations bothering on extortion, criminal intimidation and an attempt to obtain money by pretence against a syndicate using GSM numbers and email addresses,” the letter reads.