Borno Senator Muhammed Ali Ndume is mulling seeking legal redress against the federal government that tried him for six years for sponsoring Boko Haram without evidence.
An Abuja court recently acquitted Ndume as the prosecutor had no case against him.
The suspended senator made the known Sunday in an interview with journalists in Maiduguri.
According to him, while the government was struggling to find evidence to indict him, the Nigeria media passed judgment on him as Boko Haram sponsor.
Ndume, a PDP member then, blamed the Goodluck Jonathan administration who didn’t like his criticisms.
The senator said the media trial to which he was subjected hurt his person and his family.
He said his daughter lost her four-months0old pregnancy when she heard that I was arrested and arraigned in court, and some of his little kids were molested in school by people who call them names.
“After six years the court said they had no case against me so they have to acquit me. But the media wasn’t fair; the spirit with which they reported my arraignment has not been matched with the reports published on my acquittal.”
Ndume has not decided how to seek the redress, and he os even considering how to speak with the media to tell his own story..
“For six years I was restricted. I could not travel, I could not move an inch, I was subjected to emotional torture when all the while the government knew that there was nothing against me and they know who the sponsors of Boko Haram are.”
He said he met the alleged Boko Haram spokesperson, who mentioned him as their group’s informant, when they met in the court.
He said it was unimaginable the media reported that he had 73 phone contacts with the Sanda Konduga, the Boko Haram spokesman.
“How could one make over 70 phone calls, and nobody could trace the call-logs on any platform when we all know communication is two-way traffic? But sadly no one queried that scientific fact, including the press.”
Ndume explained he was a member of a presidential committee on dialogue with Boko Haram that was set up by former President Goodluck Jonathan.
“As a member of that committee, our contacts were made available to members of the public so that anyone with credible information could contact us. It was at that time this Sanda chap called and I told him I would get back to him. Unfortunately, I never did because we have hundreds of people calling at that time.
“So, he sent me a text message that I said I would get back to him and I didn’t. So, when the security people saw that text they said we were communicating with him, even though I did not respond to that text message as well,” Ndume said.
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