“Tinubu Must Go” Shirts Land Five Men in Court Custody as Amnesty Raises Alarm

Amnesty International has demanded the immediate release of five men reportedly arrested in Maiduguri, Borno State, for wearing T-shirts carrying the inscription, “Tinubu Must Go.”

The rights organisation raised concerns over the detention on Tuesday, September 29, saying that expressing opposition to a political leader should not be treated as a criminal offence.

Those reportedly detained were identified as Baba Aji Gremami, Mustapha Abba Yemen, Abacha Mohammed Ali, Adam Umar Gubio and Abdulhamid Mohammed.

Amnesty International said the men were accused of intending to cause a breach of public peace around the West End Roundabout area of Maiduguri.
It rejected the basis for their detention and called on the authorities to abandon any attempt to prosecute them over the message displayed on their shirts.

“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.”
The organisation further accused authorities in the state of using legal measures against people expressing peaceful political opposition.

According to Amnesty International, the development followed a “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 International also said the government must “uphold and ensure the rights of everyone to freedom of expression and association and respect the rule of law.”

As of the time the allegation became public, the Borno State Police Command had not issued an official statement addressing the reported arrests.

The command’s spokesperson, Nahum Daso, was also reportedly unavailable for comment, with calls and messages seeking his response unanswered.