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Andrew Wynne, the British national accused by the Nigerian Police of plotting to overthrow President Bola Tinubu has denied the allegations.
Andrew Wynne urged the Federal Government to respect people’s right to protest and not to confuse it with treason.
Recall that the Nigerian Police on Monday announced it had discovered that Wynne was involved in building sleeper cells to overthrow the Tinubu administration.
However, the Briton has dismissed the accusations, saying there was nothing like that.
He called on the Federal Government to release all the suspects being detained on allegations of planning a violent overthrow of the government of President Ahmed Tinubu.
Wynne in a statement on his bookshop’s letterhead on Monday insisted that “Protest is not treason – release all the detainees! The mass protests over #EndBadGovernance and #EndHunger frightened the government but rather than addressing the people’s demands, the government turned to repression.”
He criticised the government’s response to the protests, alleging that security forces killed nearly 40 people and arrested thousands, many of whom remain in detention.
Wynne also pointed out that the authorities in Abuja have targeted protest leaders, with ten individuals, facing serious charges including treason and mutiny.
He highlighted the case of Eleojo Opaluwa, a former colleague of NLC President Joe Ajaero, who has been detained for over four weeks without substantial evidence.
Furthemore, he rubbished charges against the detainees, adding that they are baseless, and that some of the suspects barely know one another.
Also dismissing the evidence against them is weak, Wynne condemned the inhumane treatment of those detained, citing the case of Yomi, an employee of Iva Valley Books, who was allegedly tortured and imprisoned for designing protest flyers.
He charged the NLC to extend its protection beyond its president to include all its members and the general public while emphasising that the trade union movement must stand against the repressive tendencies of the government..
