The police in Katsina State on Thursday arrested 16 youths for allegedly engaging in “politically-instigated protest and unlawful assembly.”
But the leader of the Coalition of Northern Groups, Nastura Sharif, who was arrested on Tuesday, was released on Thursday, following an outcry.
The spokesman for the Katsina State Police Command, SP Gambo Isah, confirmed the Thursday arrest of the 16 youths.
He said, “We arrested 16 men and they will be arraigned before a competent court tomorrow (Friday).They were arrested for politically-instigated protest, incitement, disturbance, rioting and unlawful assembly.”
Eyewitnesses said the men were arrested where they had gathered for a protest near the Central Police Station in Katsina.
Katsina State has recently been witnessing protests by residents over the current security situation in the state.
The Coalition of Northern Groups had said it would hold protests in some parts of the North to draw the attention of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari(retd.) to the “mindless killings” in the region.
The group and other organisations under the Coalition Against Killings in Northern Nigeria had staged a protest in Katsina State, the homes state of the President on Tuesday leading to Sharif’s arrest.
The National Security Adviser, Maj. Gen. Babagana Mungono (retd.), on Wednesday met Governor Aminu Masari and some emirs over current insecurity in the state.
A former presidential candidate of the defunct National Republic Convention, Alhaji Bashir Tofa, had called for the immediate release of Sharif, saying his arrest was wrong.
Tofa, who contested the 1993 presidential poll against the late MKO Abiola, in a viral video on social media on Thursday, described Sharif’s detention as undemocratic.
Speaking in Hausa, he said, “The arrest and detention of Alhaji Nasturah Ashir Shariff, 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 military rules would citizens demonstrate peacefully about a matter that worries the entire country and anyone would be arrested.
“Is this a notice that nobody is allowed to say anything or to express a view? Is this the democracy Nigeria is showing to the world? We hope not.”
Tofa said the President should immediately order the release of Sharif “before a single match ignites the forest and conflagrated the entire North and eventually the country.”
He added, “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 round.
“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.”
Meanwhile, the CNG later on Thursday said the Chairman of its Board of Trustee, Sharif, had been freed by the police.
The release was announced by the spokesman for the group, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, in a statement in Kaduna.
The statement read in part, “We acknowledge that Sharif’s freedom was made possible by the enormous pressure exerted by the CNG, the Northern Elders Forum, patriotic leaders and elders of the North and the vigilance of the national and international press.
“”We assure the public that we shall never relent in our struggle for a decent, free, fair and just society, no matter the odds.”
Earlier in the day, a splinter group – Coalition of Northern Organisations – led by one Adamu Matazu, alleged that CAKIN had foreign backing to destabilise the country, using insecurity as an excuse.
Matazu said, “It is without doubt that President Muhammadu Buhari was ushered in with a plethora of challenges, principal of which was a steep and steady decline into full-blown insecurity.
“However, it is on record that the government breasted the tape of the challenge and reclaimed the Nigerian territory previously under the full grips of Boko Haram terrorists and ISWAP collaborators.
“Despite acknowledgement of temporary setbacks which our security forces will soon overcome, we shall never allow the politicisation of insecurity by those who profit from an atmosphere of chaos and insecurity.”
But Murtala Abubakar, a member of CAKIN, who is also the convener of the Joint Action Committee of Northern Youth Associations, described the CNO as “faceless.”
“In the first place, the so-called CNO is a faceless organisation, not known in the struggle for the emancipation of the people of our region,” he said.
