Amnesty Intl urges FG to release organizer of Katsina protest

Amnesty International, has criticized the Federal Government for arresting Nastura Sharif, a man who led a series of protests against the President Muhammadu Buhari led administration.

Amnesty Spokesman, Isa Sanusi, lamented the situation in a statement on Wednesday.

The statement said that the government must immediately release Sharif who is the chairman of the board of trustees of the Coalition of Northern Groups.

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According to the statement, “Nigerian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release Nastura Ashir Sharif who has done nothing more than speak up in defence of people’s right to life and calling for an end of the rising insecurity across northern Nigeria.’’

“He was simply asking the authorities to do their job. His arrest appears to be an attempt to intimidate and harass both him and others peacefully exercising freedom of assembly and expression. Protest is not a crime, it is a right. Subjecting activists to such arbitrary arrest is a violation of Nigerian and international human rights laws,’’ said the statement.

Meanwhile, the protesters led by Sharif had called for the resignation of Governor Aminu Masari who had admitted that the security situation had overwhelmed his government.

A statement on Wednesday by the Director of Operations for the protest group, Aminu Adam, accused the police of arresting Sharif after the protest held in the state.

The statement said that after the protests, the Katsina State Police Commissioner, Sanusi Buba, invited leaders of the group for an interactive session which was honored.

‘’Five members of the group, including myself and Sharif, had honoured the police invitation after which the group’s leader was detained, the statement noted.

“The commissioner handed us to a team of policemen, headed by the officer in charge, Force Intelligence Bureau, who led us to Abuja. We drove from Katsina to Abuja with the police team in a white bus and a hilux.’’

The statement noted that,“On getting to force headquarters in Abuja, they told us that Sharif is under arrest for the protest and they put him in detention.”