The Police in Nigeria have charged ten individuals who participated in the recent protest against hunger and bad governance in the country with treason at the Federal High Court in Abuja.
The police accused them of an alleged plot to overthrow the government of President Bola Tinubu.
This is according to a charge sheet, FHC/ABJ/CR/454/2024, dated August 30, 2024, filed by the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, as the complainant against the ten defendants.
Listed as defendants in the suit are Michael Tobilola Adaramoye (aka Lenin), male, 28 years; Adeyemi Abiodun Abayomi (aka Yomi), male, 34 years; Suleiman Yakubu, male, 28 years; Comrade Opaluwa Eleojo Simon (aka Bob-Simon), male, 50 years; Angel Love Innocent (aka Loveth), female, 51 years; Buhari Lawal, male, 21 years; Mosiu Sadiq, male, 28 years; Bashir Bello (aka Murtala), male, 51 years; Nuradeen Khamis, male, 47 years; and Abdulsalam Zubairu, male, 37 years.
Others listed in the suit include Andrew Martin Wynne (aka Andrew Povich), a 70-year-old British citizen; Lucky Ehis Obiyan, male; Comrade Musa Abdullahi, male; and others now at large.
The suspects were arrested in different parts of the country during the nationwide protest against hunger and bad governance, which took place from August 1 to 10, 2024.
Count one stated that the defendants “between 1st July, 2024, and 4th August, 2024, at Karshi, Abuja FCT, within the jurisdiction of this court, while acting in concert and with intent to destabilise Nigeria, conspired together to commit a felony, to wit: Treason, and thereby committed an offense contrary to Section 96 and punishable under Section 97 of the Penal Code.”
Count three stated that the defendants, between 1st July, 2024, and 10th August, 2024, in Abuja FCT, Kaduna, Kano, and Gombe, conspired “with intent to destabilise Nigeria, levied war against the state in order to intimidate or overawe by attacking and injuring police officers, and burning police stations, High Court Complex, NCC Complex, Kano Printing Press, Government House Kano, Kaduna Investment and Promotions Agency office, NURTW office, and several other buildings, and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 410 of the Penal Code (Northern States) Federal Provisions Act CAP P3 LFN 2004.”
Also, count four stated that the defendants, from 1st July, 2024, to 10th August, 2024, in Nyanya, Abuja, Kano, Kaduna, Gombe, Katsina, and many other states, conspired to “destabilise Nigeria and incited mutiny by calling on the military to take over the government from President Bola Ahmed Tinubu by chanting ‘Tinubu Must Go’ and ‘soja muskeso,’ meaning ‘Tinubu must go, it is military we want,’ while rioting and disturbing public peace, and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 413 of the Penal Code (Northern States) Federal Provisions Act CAP P3 LFN 2004.”
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