On Tuesday, January 17, The Publisher of National Trail Newspaper, Inuwa Bwala was arrested in Abuja by a team of the Nigeria Police, led by the AC Criminal Investigation Department, Borno Police Command and was moved to Maiduguri on Wednesday, January 18.
Mr. Bwala, a former Borno state commissioner of information, is accused of the attempted murder of the current Borno state deputy governor, Usman Durkwa.
Police said he was arrested sequel to a petition written against him by the Borno State Deputy Governor Usman Durkwa.
He was accused of being an accomplice in the attempted murder when Mr. Durkwa served as a commissioner in the first tenure of the present Borno state governor, Kashim Shettima.
Damian Chukwu, Borno state police commissioner, who confirmed the arrest of Mr. Bwala said the journalist either participated or instigated the attack on Mr. Durkwa during the last general election.
According to police commissioner “Bwala was arrested in connection with the incident that happened sometimes in 2015 general election, when some group of persons went to attack Mr. Durkwa and beat him to stupor.”
Mr. Durkwa said Mr. Durkwa’s attackers had the intention of killing him. “After beating him to coma, they thought they had killed him, as they left saying ‘we have killed him, we have killed him’; not knowing that the victim was semi-conscious,” he said.
The police commissioner said some arrests were made and five persons linked to the incident were arraigned in court alongside two other persons that were at large. One of those at large was Mr. Bwala.
Mr. Chukwu said the five arrested persons were found guilty of attempted murder, as well as Mr. Bwala who had never appeared in court. They were jailed in 2016.
Shortly after his arrest, Bwala, sent out a WhatsApp message to journalists saying he was arrested on account of his critical reports of events in the state.
A source said that “Bwala and the Deputy Governor were bitter rivals, they hated each other with passion even when Bwala was still in APC, mainly for control of the local government area.
Bwala is the media aide to the factional National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Ali Modu-Sheriff
Bwala is still detained at the CID office in Maiduguri.
