Group Refutes Visit to Mai Tangle Over Release of 6 Arrested Over Billiri Crisis
The association of women fighting for the release of persons detained in connection with the 2021 Billiri crisis on Wednesday distanced themselves from purported visit by some women to Mai Tangle, Malam Danladi Maishanu.
Our correspondent reports this is sequel a video circulated on social media showing some women on solidarity visit to Mai Tangle in Billiri, Gombe State, pleading with him to intervene and secure the release of their loved ones detained in prison custody.
Reacting to the video, Leader of the association of the women, Mrs Solomi Moses-Dan’alfa, whose husband is among those detained said, members of their association were not part of the women who visited Malam Maishanu.
Speaking to newsmen shortly after a court sitting in Gombe on their spouses’ case, Moses-Dan’alfa said, the women seen in the video were recruited by the monarch, and some certain individuals, in order to score cheap publicity.
“We were invited to a meeting supposedly on empowerment by one of the Tangale elders, where I saw some of them, otherwise, I never met some of the women who visited the monarch. An example is the woman in the video who said her son was among those detained, but later released; I’ve never seen her in any of our meetings,” she said.
She disclosed that they were severally approached with gifts and cash rewards to pay homage to the monarch, to identify with him adding “we did not comply, because that contradicts the position of the Tangale people, who unanimously rejected the imposition of the monarch on them by Gombe state government.”
She used the occasion to reiterate their stand on the innocence of their spouses in the unfortunate situation, saying the people who planned and executed the crisis, know what they intended to achieve.
“My husband is innocent. I still remember that day vividly. All I know is, he did not participate in the violence. I won’t say much because the matter is before the courts,” the association leader added.
Also speaking, a member of the group, Mrs Grace Shedrack, said for the past four years since the incarceration of their husbands, things have not been easy for the family. She called on the state government to consider releasing the remaining six, just like the government released the previous seven.
“Life is not easy; I am not a government employee. My husband was the bread winner and they took him away for an offence he did not commit,” she said.
The women group commended the Tangale Community Development Association under the leadership of Mr. P. T. Gambo, and other illustrious Tangale sons and daughters for rallying round them.
They stressed the need for Gombe state government to release the report of the commission of inquiry set up to ascertain the cause of the uprising, maintaining that the protest which eventually turned violence was not a religious one.
The group wondered why Malam Maishanu is bent on recruiting people to legitimise his leadership despite the high handedness and injustices meted out on the people.
They vowed to continue with their advocacy and call for justice until victory is won.