Chocolate City boss, Audu Maikori has been arrested

A Human Right and Advocacy group, Concerned Nigerians, has condemned the arrest of the founder and president, 
Chocolate City Entertainment, Audu Maikori over alleged “inciting comments” over the killings in Southern Kaduna.

In a statement signed by the Convener, Deji Adeyanju
 and made available to newsmen on Saturday, the group described the arrest as taking the country back to the 
“days of military era when the instruments of state and 
the state security apparatus were used as tools with which 
to clamp down on real and perceived enemies of the state.”

“Earlier on today, the Directorate of State Security (DSS)
arrested and detained Mr. Audu Maikori, chairman of the
 Choc City Group, on the orders of a Kaduna State Magistrates’ Court which was obtained at the instance 
of the Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai.


2. This arrest comes after several weeks of threats from
the Mallam El-Rufai to arrest, detain and prosecute public
commentators over commentary made in respect of the
unending killings of unarmed men, women and children in
Southern Kaduna by an armed, dangerous and deadly militia
on behalf of herdsmen.

3. We condemn the arrest and detention of Mr. Maikori in
its entirety. It is a move reminiscent of the dark days of the
military era when the instruments of state and the state
security apparatus were used as tools with which to clamp
down on real and perceived enemies of the state.

4. The arrest and detention of Mr. Maikori is all the more
condemnable once one considers that the Kaduna State
government and the administration of President 
Muhammadu Buhari, either wilfully or by sheer inability, 
have proven completely incapable of bringing a halt to
 the relentless killings in Southern Kaduna.

5. To arrest a prominent voice who seeks a peaceful
resolution of the killings and a return to normalcy while
 being unable, or perhaps unwilling, to arrest the 
perpetrators of the heinous murders in Southern Kaduna lends credence to the narrative that the Federal 
Government under President Muhammadu Buhari and the Kaduna State Government under Mallam El-Rufai are sympathetic to the cause of the perpetrators of these killings.

6. That this clampdown is being orchestrated by Mallam
El-Rufai who enjoyed the rights to freedom of speech 
during the tenure of the immediate past administration despite making several false, malicious and inciting comments is all the more shocking and ironical.

7. We call on the Federal Government to immediately
release Mr. Maikori without any conditions. We also call on
the Kaduna State Government to immediately drop these
frivolous & ridiculous charges. They are an affront to all known
tenets of democracy and are a throwback to a dark era that is
better forgotten.

8. Finally, we call on the Federal Government, the Kaduna
State Government and all the Security agencies, including the
DSS, to focus on the far more important and germane task of
halting the killings in Southern Kaduna and bringing the
perpetrators of those heinous crimes to justice.

9. Anything less will be viewed for what it is – the abuse
of power and the misuse of the apparatus of state to 
silence important voices that seek to speak up on behalf of the suffering people of Nigeria.