A Katsina State resident, Aminu Sanda, also known as Nesta, has been detained and charged with treasonable felony following allegations that he destroyed campaign billboards displaying images of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
According to reports, Sanda was initially questioned and held by police in Katsina over claims that he pulled down the presidential billboards and broke into the Katsina State Secretariat of the All Progressives Congress (APC), allegedly stealing N35 million. Sanda has denied all claims, describing the accusations regarding the theft and billboard destruction as completely unfounded.
He was subsequently transferred to the Force Headquarters in Abuja and remanded by a Magistrate Court in Jiwa, Federal Capital Territory, on charges including treasonable felony.
The police filed a motion ex parte seeking a two-week remand to investigate the matter. When defense attorneys appeared in court on Tuesday to apply for bail, law enforcement filed an application requesting an additional two weeks to finish their inquiry. Magistrate Huzaifa Macchudo reserved ruling on the bail application until September 15. Sanda’s defense team noted that keeping the ruling reserved allows the police to seek an extension of his custody while he remains detained.
Legal experts have raised serious concerns over the nature of the charges against the suspect.
“It’s shocking that removing a billboard would amount to a treasonable felony,” human rights lawyer Hameed Ajibola Jimoh said. “Felony has a definition. Treason also has a definition. Removing a billboard is political.”
Jimoh added: “Such does not, to the best of my knowledge, amount to a treasonable felony, except we look at the section under which they are charging the person and what the law says.”
Abuja-based legal practitioner Barrister Abdurrahman Salis also expressed skepticism regarding the severity of the charge.
“It is surprising. It would be surprising not only to a lawyer but even to a law student to see this kind of charge pressed against a person alleged to have pulled down the President’s billboard in Katsina State,” Salis said.
Salis emphasized that under Nigerian law, treasonable felony involves severe actions such as an intent to unlawfully unseat executive leadership, wage war against the state, or assist an armed invasion.
“Under our laws, for an act to constitute an offence, it must be defined by law. The elements of that offence must be stated by law and the punishment must also be provided,” Salis explained. “Under the treasonable felony provisions that we are talking about, there is nowhere that pulling down a presidential billboard is mentioned as a treasonable felony. If you look at it critically, pulling down a presidential billboard does not qualify as a treasonable felony under our laws.”
The legal battle coincides with heightened political friction within the Katsina State chapter of the APC leading up to the 2027 general elections. The incident gained national attention after two security aides assigned to Governor Umar Dikko Radda were invited to the Police Force Headquarters in Abuja for questioning related to destroyed billboards featuring President Tinubu and his Special Adviser on Political Affairs, Ibrahim Masari.
Sanda’s defense highlights his political affiliation, as he reportedly serves as the Katsina State chairman of the Dikko/Tinubu Vanguard, a political support group. He questioned the logic of the accusation, asking why he would damage materials promoting a president and political movement he supports.
Observers view the controversy as a reflection of deeper fractures within the local ruling party, particularly between political factions aligned with Governor Radda and influential federal figures from the state.
