Ganduje's aide Yakasai released from DSS custody

Salihu Yakasai, the sacked media aide to Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, has been released from the Department of State Services' custody.

A brother to Yakasai, Abdullahi, made this known via his Twitter handle.

"Alhamdulilah. My brother @dawisu is out. Thank you all! #freedawisu," Abdullahi tweeted.

Many Nigerians on social media had condemned the arrest of Yakasai hours after criticising the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), over the rise in school kidnappings.

SaharaReporters had reported that the Department of State Services arrested Yakasai, who was, until Saturday afternoon, a media aide to Ganduje.

Speaking with The Punch on Saturday, the father of the governor's aide and a founding member of Arewa Consultative Forum and elder statesman, Alhaji Tanko Yakasai, said his son was arrested on his way to a barbing salon in Kano, the state capital.

Though the DSS in Kano State initially denied arresting the younger Yakasai, DSS headquarters in Abuja confirmed that the sacked media aide was in its custody.

The agency's spokesman, Peter Afunanya, while confirming Salihu's detention, denied that the former aide's arrest was connected to his criticism of the Buhari regime.

"This is to confirm that Salihu Tanko-Yakasai is with the Department of State Services. He is being investigated over issues beyond the expression of opinions in the social media as wrongly alleged by sections of the public," he had said in a statement.

The aide had called on President Muhammadu Buhari-led regime to either deal with bandits in the country or resign.

The embattled media aide was sometimes 2020 suspended from office for several weeks, having earlier criticised Buhari over his failure to tackle the security challenges bedevilling the country.