A Sokoto based Islamic Scholar, Malam Bello Yabo has been arrested by the police for allegedly making disparaging remarks against the Governor of Kaduna state, Malam Nasir El-rufa’i.

Yabo was arrested around 4pm on Friday and according to a reliable information he was transported to Kaduna where he would be charged. Malam Abdullahi Abubakar Yabo who claimed to be the nephew of the scholar told our reporter that some plain-clothed policemen came to his residence while they were saying their Asr prayer and immediately after the prayer, they called him aside and showed him a paper which turned out to be warrant of arrest issued by a Magistrate court in Kaduna.

“After reading the paper, Malam did not utter a word, he just moved into his house, came back and entered their vehicle. It was after they left that he called and notified us about the arrest , that the Attorney General of Kaduna state had written a petition against him over his recent remarks against their Governor,” Abdullahi Said

Abdullahi later told our reporter on phone, that Malam called again and told them he would be taken to court after the Sallah break. Yabo was in a video clip believed to be recorded in one of his Ramadan preaching, condemned Governor El-rufa’i and scholars of Kaduna state for the continuous ban on religious gathering in the state.

Yabo in the video, disparaged the Kaduna state council of Ulamah for allowing what he described as a ‘small bird’, referring to El-rufa’i to be dictating to them.

However, spokesman of the Sokoto state Police Command, ASP Muhammad Sadiq could not be reached at the time of filing this report but an officer privy to the arrest, said it was carried out by men of the Kaduna Police Command with the support of the Sokoto Command.

This was not the first time, the scholar was arrested at the instance of a sitting Governor, as it would be recalled he was arrested and detained during Governor Attahiru Bafatawa’s tenure in Sokoto state over a similar offence.