Amnesty International has strongly condemns the arbitrary detention of five men by Nigeria Police Borno State Command of the Nigeria Police Force for wearing t-shirts with the caption: “Tinubu Must Go” in Maiduguri.
Ambesty in a statement on Tuesday listed those arrested as Baba Aji Gremami, Mustapha Abba Yemen, Abacha Mohammed Ali, Adam Umar Gubio, and Abdulhamid Mohammed.
“Hurriedly remanding them in prison and accusing them bizarrely of: “the intent to cause breach of public peace within West End Roundabout Community Maiduguri” simply for wearing a t-shirt with a message of peaceful political dissent is not a crime.
“Asserting political opposition is part of human rights.
“Clearly, the intention of this reign of repression in Borno state appears to be the selective use of state powers to curtail the opposition in the political space.
“It is sadly creating a toxic climate of fear, that is contrary to the democratic principles of freedom and justice,” the human rights organisation stated.
It noted that Borno state government and the police have increasingly been carrying out repressive arrests and detentions targeting opposition political parties and their supporters.
“Authorities in Borno state have resorted to the familiar playbook of using the law to criminalize peaceful dissent and silence opposition. The government of Babagana Umara Zulum must not engage in restricting dissent and unleashing the punitive power of the state on political opponents.
“The authorities must release all of them now and drop this plan to put them through a sham trial based on bogus charges. The right to show and express political opinion is not exclusive to only one political party.”
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