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Prof Usman Yusuf, a former Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), has vowed to remain unrepentant in his criticisms of President Bola Tinubu's administration despite his current incarceration state.
Yusuf is currently in detention following his arrest and subsequent arraignment by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on five-count charges involving alleged embezzlement and conferment of undue advantage to himself as the boss of the NHIA in 2016.
Though he pleaded not guilty to all the charges, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court shifted its ruling on his bail application on Wednesday, February 12, 2025.
In her submission, Justice Chinyere Nwecheonwu ordered the suspect remanded in the Nigerian Correctional Service facility in Kuje, FCT, pending the ruling on February 27.
Yusuf and run-ins with Tinubu's govt
The Professor of Haematology and Bone Marrow Transplantation had been a vocal critic of President Tinubu, his government and his policies.
It's believed that his ordeal began after a viral interview in which he criticised Nigeria's newfound camaraderie with France, among other public commentaries that reportedly didn't go well with the current regime.
But, speaking after the Wednesday ruling, Yusuf described his predicament as a ploy by the President to silence him.
However, the former NHIA boss expressed full confidence in his legal team to vigorously defend him against what he termed "baseless recycled falsehoods the EFCC charged me with."
According to the Prof, he would never be silenced by Tinubu’s “dictatorial and autocratic leadership, which is forcefully suppressing any legitimate opposition to his misrule of our fatherland.”
Below is his account of fifteen days of detention and incarceration:
“On Wednesday, 29 January 2025, at around 6:30pm, as I was preparing to break my fast, my wife came upstairs to inform me that two gentlemen in black suits knocked at the door and came inside the house, saying I knew they were coming. I came downstairs in my Jallabiyya (robe), no cap, with bathroom slippers to meet these gentlemen who introduced themselves as operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) directed to take me to their headquarters.
“I asked them for their badges, which they showed me with an apology for the oversight. I asked for an arrest warrant, and they told me that they did not need one. I also asked why I was not sent any formal invitation letter before this intrusive visit. I then asked to be allowed to go upstairs to change but was physically blocked by these operatives. I also asked for my wife to be allowed to go upstairs and bring me a change of clothing, but they refused to allow that.
“On stepping outside the house, there were 5 armed mobile policemen, some deployed to the back of my house, presumably to prevent me from escaping through the back door or window. The engine of the bus they came in was left running with the driver sitting inside.
“In the heat of argument, my wife got into a shouting match with the lead operative, which made her say a few unpleasant words that provoked him and the rest of his team.
“My 14-year-old daughter was understandably very shaken by this act of state terror. I shouted out some words of consolation to her because I was blocked from going close to hug and talk to her. I asked my wife to call my brothers and Lawyers to let them know.
“The lead operative angrily seized my phone from my hand and literally bundled me onto the bus, seating me between him and an armed mobile policeman.
“The driver then zoomed off, driving crazily, sometimes against the flow of traffic to the EFCC headquarters. All the dark-suited operatives and the five armed mobile policemen in the bus were gleefully high-fiving themselves as if they had captured Kachalla Bello Turji, the notorious Zamfara bandit kingpin.
“Let us be clear, the main purpose of these cowardly Gestapo tactics by the EFCC was to use the instrument of state to intimidate and terrorise my family. As for me, I was not the least impressed or intimidated by this shameful act of state terror.
“On arriving at the EFCC, the five armed mobile policemen were dismissed with a part on the back for a job well done while I was escorted by the dark-suited operatives upstairs to the office of head of Procurement Fraud Section (PFS) to whom I introduced myself and asked why he sent his operatives to abduct me from my house to his office. He just handed me a bunch of papers, and he said were my charges asking me to sign, which I did after some back and forth.
“I asked him for a bottle of water to break my fast, which he obliged, and to be allowed to call my wife. Unfortunately, my phone battery had run down. I was refused a phone call to tell my wife and daughter where and how I was.
“After signing and collecting a copy of the charges against me, the boss PFS who seemed in a rush to close for the day, asked his assistant to take his bag downstairs to his car as if I was the last item on his to-do list for the day.
“No one told me why I was abducted, whether or not I was going to be detained, when I would be allowed access to my family and Lawyers, or when I would be arraigned in court to answer the charges labelled against me.
“I was then taken on foot around the main building to the detention cells. After being processed, I asked to be allowed to say my evening prayers (Maghrib and Isha), after which I was taken to my cell, which I shared with three other detainees.
“Many of the detainees, especially the youths, recognised me and came over to greet and offer their prayers and best wishes. My three cellmates accorded me all the courtesy and respect befitting my grey hairs. They gave me a sachet of pure water and a cup of hot tea, which helped ease my headache, resulting from caffeine withdrawal and hunger from 20 hours of fasting.
“Detainees sleep on thin mattresses that touch each other on a bare floor. My cellmates offered me the privileged position of being next to the wall.
“It was now 11 p.m., the lights were turned off, and the cell doors were locked with keys from outside. I laid down in the dark, pained that I had not spoken with my wife and daughter to tell them where and how I was doing.
“Soon after the lights went out, one of my cellmates started snoring loudly, ordinarily, this would have kept me awake, but I fell asleep until awoken by the metallic clanging sound of the cell guards opening the cells for morning prayers at 5am. We came out to say our prayers in a small recess on the corridor.
“My name was called out at 7am on Thursday, 30 January 2025, and told to get ready to be taken to court at 8am. On coming out of the building housing the detention cells with my interrogation officer (IO), a photographer of the media unit of the EFCC was strategically stationed to be taking my pictures unshaven, in bathroom slippers, no cap and in the same clothing that I was abducted from my house the evening before.
“It was then very obvious to me that one of the directives to the EFCC was to publicly humiliate, demunanise, and weaken my spirit in addition to smearing my reputation and integrity with frivolous made-up charges.
“When I got into the bus, I jokingly told the operatives that they had forgotten to put on hands and legs, cuffs, and chains on me. They busted out laughing, saying, “Haba Oga, e no reach dat level”.
“The judge adjourned the date of my arraignment to Monday, 3 February 2025, because lawyers of the EFCC were not prepared, which meant four more days of detention in EFCC’s cell for me.
“On arriving back at the EFCC, my wife was waiting with a fresh change of clothing and a home-cooked meal; the last time I had anything to eat was about 40 hours ago.
“I gently reminded her that our fight is not with the EFCC or its operatives but with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s corrupt and tyrannical government. I convinced her to come upstairs with me for her to apologize to the operative she got into a shouting match with when they came to our house to abduct me the night before. Her apology worked magic because it got me an upgrade from the cell I shared with three other detainees to a single cell all to myself.
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