ABUJA, Nigeria — Two police officers assigned to Katsina State Governor Dikko Umaru Radda have been questioned at the Force Headquarters in Abuja.
The police denied reports that the officers had been arrested or detained.
The officers, Radda’s aide de camp and chief security officer, were invited to Abuja on Thursday, August 20, 2026, over matters originating in Katsina State, according to CSP Anietie Iniedu, the Force public relations officer.
Iniedu told PRNigeria that Inspector General of Police Tunji Disu requested the officers’ presence for questioning.
He said they had not been summoned in connection with a criminal offence and that preliminary inquiries had found no evidence that either officer committed a crime.
The police spokesman said he would provide further information about whether the officers had been released and returned to Katsina.
No such clarification had been provided when PRNigeria published its report.
Accounts from political and security sources differed from the police explanation.
Several unnamed sources told PRNigeria that the officers remained in custody and alleged that their invitation was connected to an internal struggle within the governing All Progressives Congress in Katsina.
PRNigeria said it could not independently establish who initiated the police action or verify the allegation that it resulted from political pressure.
The police had not publicly provided further details about the issues for which the officers were questioned.
Rival Camps Within the Katsina APC
Party sources described the disagreement as a contest between supporters of Radda and a bloc said to be aligned with Ibrahim Kabir Masari, the special adviser on political matters to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
According to those sources, the two sides have been competing for influence over the state party’s organisation ahead of the 2027 general elections.
No evidence was presented establishing that Masari or his associates directed or requested the questioning of the officers.
“The disagreement is no longer limited to party politics,” a senior APC member, who was not identified, told PRNigeria. “It is now affecting institutions that should remain completely insulated from political contests.”
Some party members told the publication that petitions and security investigations were increasingly being used against political opponents during internal disputes.
They said invitations, questioning and detentions arising from such petitions could provoke public suspicion before wrongdoing had been established.
“When security agencies are perceived as instruments in political rivalries rather than impartial institutions, it weakens public trust and ultimately undermines national security,” an unidentified security analyst told PRNigeria.
Political observers cited in the report said an unresolved dispute could divide the APC’s state organisation and interfere with campaign coordination and voter mobilisation before the elections.
Maiwada Dammallam, director general of the Media Directorate at the Katsina Government House, was contacted for the state government’s response.
Dammallam said he would provide an official statement but had not done so when the report was filed.
