Amnesty International has raised alarm over the recent arrest and detention of five men for wearing T-shirts bearing the caption, “Tinubu Must Go” in Maiduguri, the state capital.
TheNewsGuru reports that the rights organisation, in a statement issued on Tuesday, identified 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 political dissent is not a crime. Asserting political opposition is part of human rights,” the statement reads.
“The authorities must immediately release all of those detained and drop any purported 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. Borno state government and the police have increasingly been carrying out repressive arrests and detentions targeting opposition political parties and their supporters.”
Condemning the arrest, the organisation said authorities in Borno State had resorted to the “familiar playbook” of using the law to criminalise “peaceful dissent and silence opposition”.
It added that “the government of Babagana Zulum must not engage in cracking down on “peaceful dissent and unleashing the punitive power of the state on political opponents.”
Amnesty said the government must “uphold and ensure the rights of everyone to freedom of expression and association and respect the rule of law.”