The publisher of the Desert Herald interfacing unofficially with the Kaduna train bandits that kidnapped scores of passengers in March has been arrested and repatriated in Cairo, Egypt.
Alhaji Tukur Mamu said his ordeal on his way to Saudi Arabia to perform his lesser Hajj was on the order of the Nigerian government.
He and his family were detained on landing in Cairo on Tuesday.
“I was detained for 24 hours at the Cairo International Airport under the orders of Nigerian Government. I was not harassed at the Nigerian Airport until I got to Cairo when the security officials there told me that they had orders to arrest me by Nigerian Department of State Security (DSS),” he said I a report by the Daily Trust.
“Right now they boarded the next available flight for me and my family members back home to Kano. I’m sure the DSS officials would likely be waiting for me at the Kano airport today (Wednesday).
Mamu pulled out of his unofficial role as negotiator after, he said, he got death threats.
Nigerian authorities believe he is sympathetic to the bandits, but Mamu, who is media aide Sheikh Gumi, a known sympathizer, insists on his innocence.
“muI don’t have anything to hide and I’m not afraid of them (DSS). I swear to God I’m not afraid of them. I just want the world to know of what is happening” he told the newspaper.