By Ishaya Ibrahim
The Youth Rights Campaign (YRC) has demanded the release of activists Adaramoye Michael Lenin, Mosiu Sodiq and other Nigerians arrested in connection with the recent #EndBadGovernance protest.
At a press conference held on Tuesday in Lagos, the group denounced the continuous detention of the protesters 22 days after their arrest.
They lamented that lawyers and family members of the detainees have not been allowed access to them despite some of them having medical conditions that require proper management.
They appealed to the Nigeria Medical Association to dispatch a team to visit the detainees to ascertain their state of health and provide speedy medical interventions.
Francis Nwapa who read the text of the press statement on behalf of the YRC recalled that on August 5, operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) and National Intelligence Agency (NIA) arrested Michael Lenin and other activists at about 2 am and dumped them at the facility of the notorious IRT.
“Apparently, their abductors never wanted the public to know their whereabouts. They have since then been held incommunicado without trial,” YRC said in the statement.
The group said in a sinister plot to keep the protesters in perpetual detention since the state lacked the evidence to prosecute them, the police obtained a court order on August 22 allowing them to keep the protesters in detention for another 60 days.
“As far as we are concerned, this ex parte order granted by the learned judge is nothing but a mockery of the judiciary and rule of law. First, not only did the police fail to present any evidence whatsoever to prove that it had any legitimate reason to continue to hold the suspects, but also none of the detained activists were produced in court apparently to hide from public view the terrible state they are in as a result of the torture, sleep deprivation and other abuses they have been subjected to in the custody of the police.”
The statement said it is ridiculous that the state is contriving a case against the activists of a Russian plot to topple President Bola Tinubu.
They said Michael Lenin is a socialist and revolutionary who opposes the system of capitalism and its oppression of the working class which Russian President Vladimir Putin also represents.
“To therefore suggest in any way that such an individual could support let alone have any deal with the despotic and oppressive Putin’s regime in Russia is an indication of the disingenuousness of this false allegation by the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu and the Nigerian Police,” YRC said in the statement.
YRC said the antics of the government were to equate protest with treason so that it could justifiably continue its repression against the Nigerian people.
Michael Lenin’s mother who attended the press conference also demanded the release of her son, saying she has only two children. She said her son did not commit a crime by protesting for a better Nigeria.
Babatunde Oluwa Jude who was arrested with Michael Lenin but later released, lamented that Nigeria was more divided than he thought during his ordeal with the security forces. He said those who interrogated them were from one section of the country. He said their anger was that the protest took place in their region of the country.
Other activists who spoke at the event are; Hassan Taiwo Soweto, Juwon Sanyaolu, Zikora Ibeh and Barrister Taiwo Adedeji.