Chocolate City President, Audu Maikori picked up DSS over Southern Kaduna comment, transferred to Abuja

Chocolate City boss and a Nigerian Lawyer, Audu Maikori, was yesterday evening arrested by the police. The arrest is said to be connected to his tweets about a fatal attack on the relative of his driver and some students of College of Education, Gidan Waya in Kaduna State.

It will be recalled that in a series of tweets on January 23, Mr. Maikori said his driver, later identified as Simon Joseph, told him that he lost his brother in a Fulani herdsmen ambush in Southern Kaduna and will be travelling for burial.

“My driver’s younger brother and five others students of college of education Gidan Waya were ambushed and killed by herdsmen yesterday #SouthernKaduna.

“They were in a commercial car going back to school when the driver stopped suddenly under the pretext of checking his engine #SouthernKaduna. Continue....


“As soon as the car stopped the attackers shot all 6 students but let the driver who is Fulani go. He gave us these details#SouthernKaduna.

“When we speak we are viewed as trouble makers by the Govt. Well I have seen the pictures and it’s a painful sight#SouthernKaduna,” Mr Audu tweeted.

Social media users became livid after Mr. Maikori’s vivid naration of the purported attack. The tweets were later picked up by some Nigerian newspaperswithout further checks.

Two days later, Kaduna State College of Education in Gidan Waya, where Mr. Maikori said the students were schooling, issued a statement denying any loss of students to an attack as described by Mr. Maikori.

The Kaduna State Government condemned the misinformation and the reporter responsible for the story in Vanguard Newspaper was arrested and charged.

On February 4, following intense criticism on social media, Mr. Maikori retracted and apologised for posting the tweets in a lenghty article that also offered detailed explanation of how he was misled by Mr. Joseph.

“I hereby tender an unreserved and sincere apology to the Management of the College of Education, Gidan Waya, His Excellency the Governor of Kaduna State and the Kaduna State Government, and also to the people of Southern Kaduna and the Fulani community and also VANGUARD newspapers whose source was my driver for the false statement by my driver which I also publicized believing same to be true,” Mr. Maikori wrote.

He is presently at the DSS headquarters in Abuja where he was transferred to immediately he was arrested in Lagos, his lawyer says. Already Nigerians have been clamouring for his release, saying he was misled and already admitted to that and did the right thing by retracting the statement and also apologising.