Andrew Wynne, a British national who was wanted by the Nigeria police for allegedly plotting to overthrow the President Bola Tinubu-led government, has broken his silence.
Speaking on Monday, September 2, in a statement titled “Protests, not treason,” he said: “The mass protests over #EndBadGovernance and #EndHunger frightened the government. However, the government turned to repression rather than addressing the people’s demands. Perhaps 40 people were m+rdered by the police and other security forces, thousands were arrested, and many remain in captivity.
In Abuja, the authorities have att@cked the so-called leaders and organisers of the protests. Ten people face ridiculous charges including treason, mutiny and levying war against the state.
The first person to be arrested in this case was Eleojo Opaluwa. He is a former colleague of Joe Ajaero, who works for NUEE, the electricians’ union, as an organiser in Abuja.
He is also the Vice Chair of the NLC in Kogi State. He has now been detained for over four weeks with no tangible evidence. His family was told that he had received a WhatsApp message from one of the other alleged leaders. This was after Eleojo had been detained.
The ten detainees have been accused of conspiracy to commit a range of serious crimes. However, they barely know each other. Five of them may have been members of a WhatsApp group set up to organise the protests in Abuja. [SWIPE]
