“Come And Arrest Me If You Dare” — Borno Lawyer Alkali Askira Dumps One-Time President Movement, Joins ‘ Tinubu Must Go’ Campaign Over Arrest Of 5 Youths

Prominent Borno-based lawyer and activist, Barrister Alkali Adamu Askira, has dared security agencies to arrest him after collapsing his One-Time President, OTP, movement into the ‘ Tinubu Must Go’ campaign following the arrest and remand of five youths in Maiduguri.

Askira, in a video broadcast on his verified Facebook page on Tuesday night, September 29, said he had been offline for five hours after spending the day in court when he returned to see messages from concerned Borno indigenous about the incident.

He described the arrest as shameful and an ambush on democracy.

“It is really a sad day for democracy in Borno again. It is shameful that just because a person wore a ‘ Tinubu Must Go’ T-shirt, or stood up to express his opinion, state power was used to rush them to a correctional facility. This is shameful, condemnable, and an ambush to democracy,” Askira said.

The five men — Baba Aji Gremami, Mustapha Abba Yemen, Abacha Mohammed Ali, Adam Umar Gubio and Abdulhamid Mohammed — were arrested at West End Roundabout and remanded in prison custody for wearing T-shirts inscribed with ” Tinubu Must Go”.

Askira contrasted their treatment with the amnesty granted to repentant insurgents.

“In this same Borno State, Boko Haram commanders who committed rape, murder, rampaging society, burnt towns and displaced people are being granted amnesty. Yet, a citizen who merely stands up to say ‘ Tinubu Must Go’ gets targeted. Government and police collaborate to take them before judges, and judges send them to prison. It is indeed a shame to all of you,” he said.

Announcing a political shift, the lawyer said:

“I hereby declare today, I am stepping down my One-Time President, OTP, movement, I have fully joined ‘ Tinubu Must Go’. We will wear the shirt, we will sit with the shirt on, and if anyone thinks they are powerful enough, let them come and arrest us.”

“Is it as if we are living under the reign of Pharaoh? What kind of oppression is this? Poor people’s children are just being picked up and locked in prison — for what? For what?”

He called on the Borno State Government to use the office of the Attorney General to secure their release if the government had no hand in the arrest.

“I call on the Borno State Government to use his Attorney General, if he doesn’t have hands in it, to make sure that these people were out of the prisons. You know in a few days you too will become an ordinary citizen like other citizens without immunity, with nothing. You will be a former governor like other former governors, you will be an ordinary citizen like any other citizen. Every form of oppression has an end,” he said.

Askira also urged youths in Maiduguri to be careful and protect their dignity.

“I call on the youth of Borno, you live in a town where if you do not tread carefully, you must protect yourselves. Do not make your parents weep. You have your voter cards, engage in actions that preserve your dignity. Do not give oppressors the chance to oppress you,” he added.

“As for me, from today, I, Alkali Adamu Askira, in my personal capacity, have joined this movement called ‘ Tinubu Must Go’. Come and arrest me if you dare. It is a shame, it is really a shame.”