Borno Police Charge Five Over “Tinubu Must Go” T-Shirts

Borno State police have charged five men over T-shirts bearing the words “Tinubu Must Go,” accusing them of conspiring to cause a breach of public peace near West End Roundabout in Maiduguri. Amnesty International condemned their detention and called for their release and the charges to be dropped. The men are Baba Aji Gremami, Mustapha Abba Yemen, Abacha Mohammed Ali, Adam Umar Gubio and Abdulhamid Mohammed. A First Information Report dated September 29 alleges that they conspired to print the T-shirts with the intention of causing a breach of public peace in the West End Roundabout community. The report directs that the case be charged to court. The FIR lists criminal conspiracy, inciting disturbance, disturbance of public peace and thuggery, citing Sections 60, 78, 79 and 392 of the Borno State Penal Code. Those allegations are claims in the police document and do not establish that the men intended to cause a disturbance. Amnesty said that expressing political opposition on clothing is not, by itself, a crime and urged authorities to release the men and abandon the charges.