The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have confirmed in a statement on Monday that it arrested a pro-government blogger for alleged cyber-stalking.
We
reported earlier today that a popular Abuja-based political blogger and publisher of Abusidiqu.com, Abubakar Sidiq, was arrested by the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for an alleged publication on his website.
Sidiq’s lawyer, Michael Bello, confirmed the report saying that his client was arrested in the morning by 6 operatives of the EFCC, but did not give the full reason for the arrest, only saying it was because of 'an online publication’.
The arrest of the blogger has been buzzing on Twitter with the hashtag #FreeAbuSidiq since morning as the number 1 trending topic.
The EFCC has now released a statement on the reason why the anti-graft agency arrested the blogger which caused an uproar on social media.
Below is the statement;
"The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC today arrested Mr. Abubakar Sidiq Usman, a blogger, for offences bordering on cyber stalking.
"The suspect who is the publisher of Abusidiqu.com was picked up at his Kubwa, Abuja home in the early hours of Monday August 8, 2016 by operatives of the EFCC and is currently being questioned over the alleged offence which contravenes sections of the Cyber Crime Act.
"The suspect has already been offered administrative bail and would be released to his elected sureties.
Wilson Uwujaren,
Media & Publicity
8th August, 2016."