Police arrest man who led Katsina protest, move him to Abuja

.Group, Tofa condemn action, demand release of Katsina protest leader

The Police on Wednesday arrested the chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG), Nastura Sharif, in connection with the protest against the insecurity in the north.

Recall that on Tuesday, some members of the group protested in Katsina, calling on Governor Aminu Masari to resign if he could not guarantee the security of lives.

They also demanded action from President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

In a statement on Wednesday, Aminu Adam, the group’s director of operations, said the police arrested Sharif after “the peaceful protest”.

He explained that after the protest, Sanusi Buba, the state commissioner of police, invited leaders of the group for an interactive session in his office.

Adam said five members of the group, including himself and Sharif, had honoured a police invitation after which the group’s leader was detained.

“After the protest ended peacefully, the Katsina State police commissioner, Mr. Sanusi Buba, invited us to his office for an interaction during which he told us that the Inspector General of Police wanted to see Sharif.

“The commissioner handed us to a team of policemen, headed by the OC (officer in charge), Federal Operations Bureau (FOB), who led us to Abuja.

“We drove from Katsina to Abuja with the police team in a white bus and a hilux. However, on getting to Force Headquarters in Abuja, they told us that Sharif is under arrest for the protest and they put him in detention,” Adam said.

Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba, neither responded to calls nor responded to text messages as of the time this report was filed.

Meanwhile, the Concerned Nigerians Group has condemned the arrest of Nastura Sharif, chairman of the board of trustees (BoT) of the Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG), who was arrested by the police over the protest his group organised against the insecurity in the north.

In a statement, Deji Adeyanju, convener of the Concerned Nigerians Group, called for the immediate release of Sharif.

Adeyanju asked President Muhammadu Buhari to focus on arresting bandits and not critics of his administration.

“We are greatly worried that the President is arresting critics of his sheer incompetence in the handling of security situations in the North instead of the bandits killing Nigerians.

“The president should arrest the bandits and not patriotic citizens speaking up against the gross incompetence of the government. A government that negotiates and begs bandits cannot be arresting critics.

“The president needs to show leadership and stop arresting those criticizing him. We are in democracy and this system of government gives the citizens the right and freedom to hold elected public officials accountable.

“If the president can’t tolerate dissents, then, he should be courageous enough to resign. Freedom of assembly is one of the most fundamental rights of the citizens in a democracy.

“All the energy being expended by the police in arresting Mr. Nastura Sherif and other concerned Nigerians who protested on Tuesday in Katsina should be channeled into taming the monstrous bandits terrorizing the people of Katsina and other parts of North.

 “We are solidly behind Nastura Sherif and we call on the Nigerian government to release him immediately from detention,” Adeyanju said.

Also reacting, Bashir Tofa, opponent of MKO Abiola in the June 12 presidential election, described the arrest and detention of Nastura Sharif as undemocratic.

In a statement, Tofa said Sharif’s arrest is a “bad example of intolerance in a democracy”, asking President Muhammadu Buhari to order the immediate release of the activist.

He said failure to release him could lead to an avoidable crisis.

His words: “The arrest and detention of Alhaji Nasturah Ashir Sheriff, the leader of the Coalition of Northern Youth, is utterly wrong, undemocratic and a very bad example of intolerance. It is unwise and unjust.

“Not even during sensible and caring military rules, would citizens demonstrate peacefully about a matter that worries the entire country, and anyone be arrested. Is this a notice that nobody is allowed to say anything or to express a view, even peacefully? Is this the Democracy Nigeria is showing to the world? We hope not.

“I appeal to the President to immediately order the release of this young man with an apology, before a single match ignites the forest and conflagrate the entire North and eventually the country. So many people are angry about so many things. If this collective anger is tickled and pushed by a few who may have started some illegal action somewhere, it will easily spread.

“The 2011 violence, destruction and death that occurred when it was rumoured that Gen. Muhammad Buhari was denied his victory will be a child’s play this time around. Nigerians are very angry! Insecurity everywhere, poverty, joblessness and now Covid-19, disease, despair and desperation have eaten deep into people’s patience and good sense.

“President Buhari should be very careful. He should begin to know and appreciate his true and sincere friends, and get rid of his enemies, who do tremendous harm to his image and his own future well being and safety. He must remember that in three years, someone else will be President.”