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A British national wanted by the police, Andrew Wynne, also known as Drew Povey, has said the government was unsettled by the EndBadgovernance protest held across the country.
Wynne expressed regret that the government has been suppressing the protesters instead of responding to the citizens’ demands.
This is as he called on the Nigeria Labour Congress to protect the general public as it did to its President, Joe Ajaero when the police invited him.
Wynne stated this in a statement on Monday titled “Protests, not treason.”
It read, “The mass protests over #EndBadGovernance and #EndHunger frightened the government. However, the government turned to repression rather than addressing the people’s demands. Perhaps 40 people were murdered by the police and other security forces, thousands were arrested, and many remain in captivity.
“In Abuja, the authorities have attacked the so-called leaders and organisers of the protests. Ten people face ridiculous charges including treason, mutiny and levying war against the state.”
Wynne noted that the first person arrested by the police, Eleojo Opaluwa, was a former colleague of the Nigeria Labour Congress President, Joe Ajaero and the Vice Chairman of the Union in Kogi State.
He said, “The first person to be arrested in this case was Eleojo Opaluwa. He is a former colleague of Joe Ajaero, who works for NUEE, the electricians’ union, as an organiser in Abuja.
“He is also the Vice Chair of the NLC in Kogi State. He has now been detained for over four weeks with no tangible evidence. His family was told that he had received a WhatsApp message from one of the other alleged leaders. This was after Eleojo had been detained.”
Wynne stated that the ten individuals arraigned for organising the protests hardly knew one another.
He said, “The ten detainees have been accused of conspiracy to commit a range of serious crimes. However, they barely know each other. Five of them may have been members of a WhatsApp group set up to organise the protests in Abuja.
“But the other five are unknown to these comrades. They may be a few of the flag-waving protesters from Kano who were added to extend the range of the organizers to cover the main protests from Sokoto to Maiduguri. “
Wynne said the police investigating the suspects and the government are not on the same page on the matter.
He said, “There appears to be a conflict between the government and the police investigating this case. The head of the Intelligence Response Team told the detainees’ lawyers that he would have released them but that he had orders from above not to set them free. So the police have developed what appears to be a ridiculous case involving the owner of Iva Valley Books.”
Wynne noted that the claim that he had left the country was not true.
“They are claiming that I travelled under the name of Andrew Povich, a Russian-sounding name and that I have now left Nigeria for Russia. Neither of these claims are true. Yomi, who works for Iva Valley Books, has, like the other detainees, been treated in a terribly
inhumane manner.
“He was arrested in front of his wife and three-year-old daughter. The police confiscated all their phones. This was despite appeals from his wife that they needed a phone to get money for food. He was then imprisoned illegally and held in chains, beaten and
tortured for three days. His only involvement was to design flyers for the protests.”
He, however, called on the NLC to protect the general public as it has done to its president.
Wynne said, “The NLC has shown that it has the power to protect its President. It now needs to extend this action to protect its other officers, its members and the general public.”
The NLC had promised a general strike to protect Ajaero from arrest and detention in relation to similar charges.
Despite the flimsy nature of the evidence against the detainees, they face long years in prison unless the trade union movement is prepared to protect them.
On August 7, the NLC said it “condemns in the strongest terms the human rights violations perpetrated by security forces against peaceful protesters.”
