Aisha Galadima, a political ally of former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, who was arrested by operatives of the Department of State Security (DSS), has confirmed her release.

Although the reasons for her arrest are uncertain, reports revealed that the strong ally to the former governor may have instigated the current administration with her political views targeted against its principal, Governor Uba Sani and shared via her Facebook page.

Operatives of the DSS were said to have stormed her residence in the Tudun Wada area of Kaduna on Sunday afternoon and was whisked off in a Hilux. Her phone lines were subsequently unreachable.

But the Kaduna government when contacted by the press, expressed its ignorance of the situation.

“I’m not aware that a woman was arrested for posting a negative comment against His Excellency. In any case, you should direct your enquiries to the DSS, not the Kaduna State Government,” the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Muhammad Shehu was quoted to have said.

Checks by THE WHISTLER on her Facebook page discovered most posts by Galadima to have expressed an unwavering support for Nasir El-Rufai, accompanied with his pictures, while others had a direct and indirect criticism of the present administration’s policies, and happenings in the state.

As frequent and engaging as her posts are on her page of over 11,000 followers, Galadima’s last post before her purported arrest was on Sunday. It read, “Living with integrity is better than living with leadership Malam Nasir El Rufai (sic).”

Twenty-four hours after she was reported to have been released, Galadima posted, “Alhamdulillah”, translated — “Praise be to God” — with over 132 comments congratulating her on her release.

Galadima in another post said, “Even If I will be killed, I am with you Malam Nasir El-Rufia”.

She continued, “These are signs of their failure in 2027”, alluding to the former governor’s victory in the 2027 presidential election.

Confirming her release to Daily Trust, Galadima said she was harassed and beaten by operatives of the secret police.

“I was inside my room about to take my bath when they came in and dragged me out. I saw four of their Hilux outside the gate. They pushed me inside and drove away,” she said.

According to her, the DSS had accused her of making some posts against the governor in February.

Recall that Governor Sani revealed that his administration inherited a burden of $587m and N85bn debts as well as 115 contractual liabilities from El-Rufai, noting that the fluctuating exchange rate worsened the state’s capacity to repay almost triple the monies borrowed his former principal.

Sani lamented that a significant amount of the state’s federal allocation goes into servicing the debts while stating that in March alone, N7bn out of the N10bn federal allocation to the state was deducted for debt servicing, leaving just N3b to cover expenses.

However, Bashir El-Rufai, son of the former Governor fired back accusing Sani of negligence of duty, contract inflation, and speculative financial practices.

Bashir accused the governor of lobbying and approving the loans while he (Uba Sani) was a senator.

Governor Sani was the Kaduna Central Senator in the 9th Senate before he emerged as the state governor in the 2023 elections.