The family of Luka Binniyat and the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union have demanded his immediate and unconditional release.
Binniyat, a freelance journalist, was said to have written a report on the wanton killings and destruction of properties in Southern Kaduna.
The family and SOKAPU accused the state Commissioner for Security and Internal Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, of ordering his arrest based on the report published on November 5.
Speaking during a protest in Abuja on Saturday, the National President of SOKAPU, Jonathan Asake, said Binniyat had been in detention since and efforts to secure his bail had been unsuccessful.
He said, “As most of you are already aware that for over six years running, communities in Southern Kaduna have incessantly come under severe attacks by Fulani killer herdsmen.
“These attackers usually invade our vulnerable and defenceless communities at odd hours unprovoked with the government of the day doing nothing and making no effort to bring the perpetrators to justice.
“It is these kind of atrocities regularly meted out on our people that Luka Binniyat, a journalist and true son of Southern Kaduna, has refused to be silent about, but committed himself to relentlessly expose them against the apparent complicit posture of the government authorities in Kaduna State, which have continued to clamp down on press freedom and free speech as opposed to the provisions of our national constitution.
“He has been arrested and detained for over five weeks without being granted bail in gross violation of his basic human and constitutional rights.”
Binniyat’s wife, Gladis, who lamented the victimisation of her husband by the state government, said he was arrested in 2017 and was detained on trump up charges and spent over 100 days in custody.
She urged the government to release him unconditionally or prosecute him in the law court.