Ex-VP ‘s former aide urges Trump to challenge Buhari over Chemb’s imprisonment

The Secretary of Northern Leaders and Stakeholders Assembly, Dr. Umar Ardo, has urged President Donald Trump to ‎challenge President Muhammadu Buhari on the reason why he sentence an American, Mahmet Ben to 95 years jail term during his tenure as military head of state in 1984.

ROYAL NEWS gathered that President Buhari will on Monday meet with Trump in New York.

Ardo Ardo who is also the former Special Adviser, Research and Documentation to former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar spoke to newsmen in Abuja on Sunday, alledging that Buhari jailed Chemb without any evidence against her.

According to him, ‎”There was a case of a wealthy American lady, Mahmet Ben Chembi, who brought in her $17 million from the US to invest in plumbing in the building of Abuja, but was framed of defrauding the Nigerian state and taken to Buhari’s military tribunal and jailed for 95 years without a shred of evidence adduced against her by the government,” he recalled.

“President Buhari was not new to taking extra judicial means to deal with perceived enemies even when there were no evidence against them, adding that because Buhari was not known to be a democrat,  there was no way he would abide by court’s pronouncements on issues that have to  do with freedom of people.

“Despite being sent to jail, that the lady was fined N500 million. It was the regime of another military dictator,  Ibrahim Babangida that set up a Judicial Review Panel that reviewed the case and released her from jail.

“There was also the case of a wealthy Nigerian woman resident in Saudi Arabia who returned to the country and was arrested on arrival at Kano airport, taken to tribunal and jailed 10 years for being in possession of N600. She had a five-year old daughter who was sent to jail along with her.

He however likened the looters list ‎released earlier this month by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed to Ben Chem’s case.

‎”No wonder, with the absence of kangaroo military tribunals in the current democratic setup, the government is unable to successfully prosecute and convict any of the so-called looters three years after coming to power beyond the pages of newspapers”, he said.

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