On January 6, 2026, police officers from the Central Police Command in Abuja, arrested Mr Abubakar Salim in connection with a defamation complaint reportedly linked to Nigeria’s Minister of State for Defence, Dr Bello Matawalle. Mr Salim, a resident of Zamfara State, was tracked from Gusau to Abuja before being arrested at a hotel. His movements were allegedly traced through a Bolt driver, after which he was detained and held in isolation
According to media reports, Salim’s arrest and detention were reportedly linked to his reposting of videos originally produced by Musa Kamarawa, a former aide to Nigeria’s Minister of State for Defence. The videos alleged that Matawalle was involved in banditry and the financing of terrorism in Zamfara State.
Salim was said not to have created the content but to have reposted and translated the videos from Hausa into English. The videos were released by Kamarawa following a fallout with Matawalle and reportedly contained claims that the Minister sponsored bandits, sent funds through intermediaries, and provided vehicles and houses for their operations.
At the time, the videos circulated widely across social media, coinciding with public calls for President Bola Tinubu to remove Matawalle as Minister of State for Defence over allegations of banditry and terrorism financing in Zamfara State. The materials shared by Salim were reportedly the same videos that had already gained wide public attention, translated into English.
Mr Salim was reportedly still in police detention as of January 8, 2026, with his legal representatives denied access when they visited the station to see him. His legal team maintained that any allegation of defamation should be addressed through a civil lawsuit rather than police detention.
