“Unlawful Arrest”: Amnesty International Condemns Detention Of 5 Men For Wearing ‘ Tinubu Must Go’ T-Shirts In Maiduguri, Demands Immediate Release
Amnesty International has strongly condemned the arrest and detention of five men by the Borno State Police Command for wearing T-shirts bearing the inscription ” Tinubu Must Go” in Maiduguri.
The victims were identified as:
Baba Aji Gremami
Mustapha Abba Yemen
Abacha Mohammed Ali
Adam Umar Gubio
Abdulhamid Mohammed
The five men were arrested on September 25 at West End Roundabout community and hurriedly remanded in prison, according to a First Information Report, FIR, dated September 29, 2026, from the State Criminal Investigation Department, SCID, Maiduguri.
Police accused them of criminal conspiracy, inciting disturbance, disturbance of public peace and thuggery, claiming they conspired to print T-shirts with ” Tinubu Must Go” with intent to cause breach of public peace, contrary to Sections 60, 78, 79 and 392 of the Borno State Penal Code.
Reacting, Amnesty International said hurriedly remanding them and accusing them bizarrely of “the intent to cause breach of public peace” 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,” the organisation said.
Amnesty added: “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 rights group accused the Borno State Government and police of increasingly 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,” Amnesty said.
It called for their immediate release and for the charges to be dropped.
“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,” the statement added.
