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| Protesters from the North and Tinubu [Photo credit: People Gazette] |
Ten #EndHunger protesters were charged by the Nigeria Police Force at the Federal High Court in Abuja with allegedly plotting to topple President Bola Tinubu's administration.
This is stated in a charge sheet against the 10 defendants, FHC/ABJ/CR/454/2024, dated August 30, 2024, which was submitted by Inspector General of Police Kayode Egbetokun acting as the complainant.
Michael Tobilola Adaramoye (aka Lenin), a 28-year-old man; Adeyemi Abiodun Abayomi (aka Yomi), a 34-year-old man; Suleiman Yakubu, a 28-year-old man; Comrade Opaluwa Eleojo Simon (aka Bob-Simon), a 50-year-old man; Angel Love Innocent (aka Loveth), a 51-year-old woman; Buhari Lawal, a 21-year-old man; Mosiu Sadiq, a 28-year-old man; Bashir Bello (aka Murtala), a 51-year-old man; Nuradeen Khamis, a 47-year-old man; and Abdulsalam Zubairu, a 37-year-old man—are listed as defendants in the lawsuit.
A 70-year-old British citizen named Andrew Martin Wynne (also known as Andrew Povich), Lucky Ehis Obiyan, Comrade Musa Abdullahi, and other people who are now at large are also named in the lawsuit.
The culprits were apprehended across the country during the nationwide demonstration against hunger and corrupt governance, which lasted from August 1 to 10, 2024.
The defendants were charged with one count: "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 offence 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,"
This comes only days after Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court's Abuja Division, in an ex-parte motion on August 20, 2024, ordered the freezing of bank accounts linked to the defendants pending the case's investigation and prosecution.