FROM RESISTANCE TO EXILE: My 17 Months Underground

*A Cadre's Historical Account of the Struggle Against Military Tyranny*

*By Comrade Taiwo Omoniyi OTITOLAYE*

*I. June 12: The Mandate and The Betrayal*

History has moments when a people discover themselves. June 12, 1993 was such a moment.

It was not an election. It was a plebiscite against hunger and against military messianism. The Nigerian masses - from all regions, from all walks of life, including Army Barracks formation across the country- voted as a conscious class for democracy. 

Nigeria is a multiethnic, multilingual and multi-religious Nation-state. That day, Nigerians transcended region and every primordial division to speak with one voice.

The mandate of Chief M.K.O. Abiola was therefore a pan-Nigerian mandate.

That mandate was betrayed.

General Ibrahim Babangida, the self-styled evil genius, annulled the freest and fairest election in our history. He annulled hope. In its place, he installed an illegal contraption called the Interim National Government. It was a stillbirth.

From that betrayal, tyranny did not just emerge; it erupted. On November 17, 1993, General Sani Abacha, the dark-goggled despot, pushed aside the interim charade and declared himself absolute ruler. Decrees became law. Fear became policy. Nigeria became a vast prison yard, and every home became a potential cell.

We had a choice: to submit or to resist. We chose resistance.

*II. The Vanguards of the People: The Architecture of Resistance*

Tyranny always creates its gravediggers.

The resistance was not spontaneous; it was organized and focused. It had architecture, ideology, direction, vanguards, and from phase to phase.

The Campaign for Democracy (CD) was the militant, mass-based engine of street confrontation. We believed that democracy is not negotiated in banquet halls; it is won on the streets.

The Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) was the ideological and legal backbone. It gave political defence to the defenceless and taught that human rights are not charity but class struggle.

When the need for a broader unity became urgent, the United Action for Democracy (UAD) emerged as the united front - welding CD, CDHR, student unions, labour, professional groups and market associations into a single fist.

And the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) became the broad historic bloc of the political class, elders and progressives, both inside and outside exile, demanding the restoration of June 12.

We were not civil society in the donor sense. We were the combatants of civil society. We were the Vanguards of the People.

*III. The Chain of Comradeship: From Saro-Wiwa to Iyayi*

A movement is only as strong as the continuity of its cadres.

Comrade Ken Saro-Wiwa was not just an Ogoni leader. He was our National Vice Chairman (South-South) in the Campaign for Democracy. A poet who weaponized the pen. He linked the oil spill in the Niger Delta to the moral spill in Dodan Barracks. He internationalized our local struggle.

When the junta, using a compromised judiciary and a kangaroo tribunal led by Justice Ibrahim Auta primitively convicted and later hanged Ken Saro-Wiwa and the Ogoni 8 on November 10, 1995, they thought they were killing a man. They were killing their own legitimacy before the world.

The mantle fell, and it did not fall. It was lifted by a giant - Professor Festus Iyayi. Former President of ASUU. National President of CDHR. Marxist, novelist, organizer. Prof. Iyayi proved that the intellectual who does not join the street has betrayed his books. He succeeded Comrade Saro-Wiwa as the South Zone of the Campaign for Democracy and brought theoretical depth and uncompromising courage to the leadership.

From Saro-Wiwa to Iyayi, the line was clear: the struggle for democracy and the struggle for social justice are one and the same.

*IV. The Mass Resistance: How Nigerians Were Conscientized*

This is the chapter bourgeois writers erase.

They write about leaders, but not about the masses. Yet without the masses, we were nothing.

We went from community to community. From town hall to town hall. From student campus to campus. We did sensitization. We did conscientization in the Freirean sense - we made people see that their personal hunger was political.

And Nigerians listened. Oh, they listened!

*V. The Barricades and Trenches: The Battles Were Tough*

The battle was fought on the streets, in the markets, at the motor parks, and at midnight with a printing machine that could cost us our lives.

Leafleteering and grafty was our artillery.

We did not have NTA or Radio Nigeria. Abacha had them. We had paper. We had ink. We had courage.

We produced leaflets, bulletins, and communiques - sometimes handwritten, sometimes cyclostyled in hidden rooms - all across the country. We called it conscientization material. The junta called it sedition.

How did it move?

We partnered with the Newspapers Distributors Association of Nigeria (NDAN). Those comrades were heroes. They knew every vendor, every route. Our leaflets entered inside newspapers. A citizen buying Daily Times would find our call to action inside. That was our internet.

The Market Associations were our distribution centres. The Iyaloja and Babaloja who believed in June 12 opened their stalls to us.

The Student Union Governments (SUGs) were our ready Field Commanders. From Unilorin to ABU Zaria, from UNILAG to UNN, they took the bundles and spread them from hostel to hostel. They were fearless.

The Labour and factory cadres carried them into the factories, into the industrial estates in Ilorin, Kano and Lagos.

The Akara (bean cake) sellers - yes, our mothers - wrapped akara with our leaflets. Who would suspect an akara seller?

The Drivers' Unions - NURTW, RTEAN - were our logistics corps. They transported our materials from town to town, and village to village, inside engine compartments, under seats, inside spare tyres. A driver could be our cadre without ever shouting Aluta.

And I must record this for history: The Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria were consistent allies. While others kept quiet, their communiques eased the tension in society. They were consistently progressive. Their pastoral letters gave moral legitimacy to what we were saying on the streets.

But the barricades had blood.

Many Nigerians lost their lives at the barricades due to police and military extrajudicial killings.

 We watched many fall by our sides through bullets.

We carried comrades who were shot for holding a leaflet. We saw market women beaten for shouting "June 12". We saw students gunned down for mounting a barricade.

The battles were tough. But every bullet that killed a comrade produced ten more.

 Every barricade they dismantled in the morning, we rebuilt in the night.

That was the spirit of the barricades.

*VI. The Plateau Zone and Our Unsung Heroes*

It is expedient and germane for me to pause here and express my sincere condolences and love for our late Comrades, Basil Chianson and Peter Ogaba of the Nigerian Airways.

History must record this: the duo played unquantifiable roles in the struggles and in my leadership team especially in the Benue and Plateau axis.

They were not just sympathizers. They were logistics commanders. Nigerian Airways staff at that time had access, had movement, had networks across the country. Basil and Peter used their positions to move our mobilisation materials, to give us cover, to provide safe passage and information. In the dangerous terrain of Benue and Plateau, they were our wings.

Their death is a monumental loss to the democratic struggle. Their names must be etched in gold whenever the story of June 12 is told in the Middle Belt. May their militant Souls continue to live.

I salute them.

*VII. Close Calls: The Makurdi Escape and The Mystic Shield*

In this kind of struggle, you live many lives in one day.

I remember one of my most dangerous escapes in Benue, Makurdi. I had made the usual trips across the Plateau Zone which I coordinated to strengthen the zone and deliver mobilisation materials. 

On that particular trip, my mission was to formally constitute a strong CD Branch in Benue.

In that historic meeting, Comrade Samuel Ortom (NOW FORMER GOVERNOR OF BENUE STATE):and Comrade Abubakar Borjov were elected Chairman and Secretary respectively. The zone was now solid.

It was time to go to Jos in continuation of my trip. Getting to the motor park in the morning, our vehicle was loaded. I thought we were heading to Jos unhindered.

To my surprise, our vehicle parked just outside the garage and the driver said, "Please everybody come down for police check."

The previous day, the State Security Service (SSS) had traced me to the office of NULGE for my arrest. They had gotten wind that I was in Makurdi. Comrade Sanni of NULGE and others were hosting me. I had escaped that arrest by whiskers.

Now this checkpoint. When I saw plain clothed policemen, hot blood ran through my spine, and all over my body. 

I composed myself for another arrest. I became determined that no matter what happened, I was ready to pay the price.

What happened next, I owe to the ECK Masters of the Order of Vairagi. 

Three ECK Masters stepped in at that garage. For the Spiritual Law of Silence, I keep that part of the story sealed.

I had many similar escapes in that era. Each one reminded me that the struggle is both physical and spiritual.

Baraka Bashad.

*VIII. Five Minutes Away From The Phantom Coup: Patrick Aziza's Panel*

The junta was not just hunting us; it was framing us.

My escrow account campaign - demanding that Nigeria's crude oil revenue be DEPOSITED IN AN ESCROW ACCOUNT for the Nigerian people - had penetrated into the junta's fabrics. I had touched their loot. I was therefore to be either eliminated or given life imprisonment.

Their plan was to rope me into General Patrick Aziza's Phantom Coup Panel.

This was premeditated. The junta's excuse for wanting to rope me into a coup was linked to the junta's self-styled violence across the country. Ilorin, Kwara State was one of the first places the junta's dark agents planted and detonated bombs. They were negatively portraying activists as people behind the violence, to justify crushing us.

Our Chairman, Dr. Beko Ransome-Kuti and Comrade Shehu Sani who was coordinating Kaduna Zone were already arrested and in prison to be linked to this phantom coup.

I was next.

Again, to the credit of my INNER MASTER, I was STERNLY WARNED to vacate the Safe House I was staying at the time.

I had to open up to my host because he had provided cover to me when it mattered most. I told him,

 "Look, my Inner Master whispered to me to leave your house within 5 minutes or I will be arrested to a point of no return."

I have always packed my bag ready for any emergency.

Sadly, my host insisted on taking his bath before leaving the house.

Within that 5 minutes window, they struck.

 He was arrested and spent about three weeks at the State Security Service (SSS) detention center. He paid the price for his solidarity.

I escaped by 5 minutes. Five minutes between freedom and a phantom coup tribunal that would have ended my life.

*IX. May 6, 1994 and the Triumph of Collective Leadership*

I and Late Dr. Frederick Fasheun were the first casualties of Abacha's terror on the 6th of May 1994. While preparing for the mass street protests and burn fires slated for Monday 9th May, we were arrested. Abacha was in Ilorin for the All Military Games, and his security apparatus wanted to preempt us.

They thought if they cut the head, the body would die.

But IVhad been schooled by the Legendary, Comrade Baba Omojola, in the COMMITTEE SYSTEM OF LEADERSHIP.

The struggle was not built around me. It was decentralized. Every cell had its own autonomy.

So inside detention, I was jubilating. My esteemed comrades carried out the protests and the burn fires effectively without me. That is the beauty of collective structures. Individuals may be detained, but an idea organized cannot be imprisoned.

I Was charged "Security Risk against the Head of Srate and Commander-In-Chief (C-in-C).

*X. The VOA Campaign and Becoming WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE*

The judicial murder of Ken Saro-Wiwa radicalized me further.

I was being interviewed regularly by William Eagle of the Voice of America (VOA). I decided to escalate the ideological warfare. I used that global platform to campaign for Nigeria's crude oil revenue to be DEPOSITED IN AN ESCROW ACCOUNT - to be held in trust for the Nigerian people, outside the thieving reach of the Abacha junta.

That single campaign touched the jugular of the regime. They could tolerate political abuse; they could not tolerate a threat to their loot.

I was declared wanted. A combined team of military intelligence and MOPOL was dispatched from Abuja with a clear order: bring him DEAD OR ALIVE.

*XI. 17 Grueling Months: The Tramp With No Home*

I permanently left my home for 17 grueling months. Until Abacha transited to a higher realm of existence.

I became a tramp with nowhere to lay my head. A nomad in my own country. From ONE SAFE HOUSE TO ANOTHER.

I became persona non grata to many friends and relatives. Fear made them distance themselves. I do not blame them; tyranny makes cowards of many.

But VERY FEW STOOD SOLIDLY FOR ME.

 They opened their doors when the state had marked my me. They are the true HEROINES AND HEROES OF OUR COLLECTIVE STRUCTURES.

The cost was not mine alone. My own sister was arrested 26 times between 1994 and 1998 in lieu of me. Twenty-six times!

 We had to organize to smuggle her out of Kwara State into safety until the tyrant fell.

They risked everything for the struggle.

*CODWA: Why We Still Struggle*

I tell this story not for pity. I tell it for continuity.

From the struggle against military tyranny to the struggle against economic tyranny today, it is the same fight.

We moved from the barricades to the ballot, from burn fires to budgets, but the weapon remains the same: ORGANIZED COLLECTIVE STRUCTURES OF THE PEOPLE.

We remain unbowed. We remain unconquered.

It is not yet UHURU

Vigilance is the Price for Eternal Liberty 

VICTORIA AETERNA 

COMRADE TAIWO OMONIYI OTITOLAYE is the Executive Director of Community Outreach for Development and Welfare Advocacy (CODWA)

GAFAMORG Seeks Nigerians’ Voices on Wages, Living Standards and Economic Dignity

 LAGOS — The Gani Fawehinmi Memorial Organization (GAFAMORG) has launched the People’s Living Dignity Test 2026, a nationwide public evidence gathering exercise aimed at documenting the real life economic conditions and cost of living experiences of Nigerians.

The initiative, launched on September 29, 2026, seeks responses from Nigerians across the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory on their everyday economic circumstances and what it takes to maintain a basic standard of living with dignity.

According to GAFAMORG, the exercise is intended to bring citizens’ direct experiences into public discussions about wages, living standards and the rising cost of living.

The organisation said the questionnaire provides a structured platform through which Nigerians can share evidence of their present economic circumstances, adding that the information gathered would contribute to continuing public interest documentation on wages, living standards, economic dignity and social justice.

Nigerians urged to participate

GAFAMORG has urged Nigerians to complete the questionnaire honestly and base their responses on their current personal circumstances.

The organisation is also calling on individuals and organisations to circulate the questionnaire widely through communities, workplaces, trade union and workers’ networks, churches, mosques, youth organisations, student groups, community associations and social-media platforms.

It specifically appealed to journalists, civil-society organisations, community leaders and other public interest institutions to help bring the exercise to Nigerians who might otherwise have limited opportunities to participate.

GAFAMORG said the objective is to generate people centred evidence rather than merely opinions on the economic realities confronting citizens.

The organisation said relevant findings would be communicated to the public as responses are compiled and analysed.

Explaining the philosophy behind the initiative, GAFAMORG said: “The people should not merely be discussed. The people should also be heard.”

The organisation described the exercise as part of its continuing public interest work under the banner: “Remembering Gani by Continuing His Struggle.”

The statement was signed by the Chairman, Comrade Babatunde Agunbiade, and the Public Relations Officer, Comrade Ade Adeoye Adewunmi, on behalf of GAFAMORG.

How to participate

Members of the public can take the People’s Living Dignity Test 2026 through the GAFAMORG questionnaire:

Take the People's Living Dignity Test 2026

The exercise is open to Nigerians across the country.

FROM “CHRISTIAN GENOCIDE” TO “MINERAL WEALTH”: THE IMPERIALIST AGENDA BEHIND US ENGAGEMENT WITH NIGERIA

 The article argues that Africa's historical experience with Western powers should make Africans cautious about accepting claims that foreign intervention is motivated solely by humanitarian, religious or security concerns. It draws a direct historical line from colonialism, when European powers invoked civilisation and Christianity while extracting African labour and resources, to contemporary forms of political and economic influence. The writer's central premise is that military, diplomatic and economic engagements with Africa should be examined within the wider context of geopolitical interests and resource competition.

The article then connects the United States' designation of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern over religious-freedom issues and the December 2025 US airstrikes against ISIS linked targets in Sokoto with the subsequent September 2026 US-Nigeria mineral sector framework. The writer highlights Nigeria's estimated $700 billion mineral wealth and argues that the timing and combination of religious, military and economic engagement warrant closer scrutiny. 

A major argument concerns neocolonialism and the Tinubu administration. The writer interprets increased American engagement with Nigeria's mineral resources as potentially representing a strategic concession to US interests. He further raises the possibility that economic and diplomatic arrangements could create international tolerance for democratic or human-rights violations by the Nigerian government, particularly in the context of the 2027 elections. The article connects this concern to the government's handling of the #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria protests, allegations of excessive force and the prosecution of protesters under serious charges.

The broader political argument is that economic sovereignty is inseparable from political sovereignty. According to the writer, genuine independence requires African countries to control how their natural resources are developed, how their economies are structured and whose interests influence national policy. He therefore rejects reliance on imperial powers for security, finance, technology, knowledge or resource development and argues that foreign investment should be interrogated rather than automatically equated with development.

Finally, the article is fundamentally a call for political education and historical consciousness. Its recurring message is that Africans must study slavery, colonialism, the Scramble for Africa, neocolonialism, resource exploitation and the interaction between religion and geopolitical power. The writer concludes that Africa's liberation cannot be outsourced and that a new generation must understand the structural relationships that sustain external dependence. The article therefore combines a historical critique of imperialism with a contemporary political argument about Nigeria's resources, sovereignty, democracy and foreign relations.

26TH SEPTEMBER 2026

FROM “CHRISTIAN GENOCIDE” TO MINERAL WEALTH: HOW TRUMP’S US IMPERIALISM TARGETED NIGERIA’S UNTAPPED RESOURCES THROUGH THE TINUBU NEO-COLONIAL REGIME

Generation after generation, Africans have failed to adequately study their own history, and consequently, generation after generation continues to become a victim of history.

THE PATTERN IS NOT NEW

The colonial masters came to Africa claiming to bring civilisation, Christianity and progress to our forefathers. Behind the language of civilisation was the violent reality of conquest, slavery, exploitation and the systematic extraction of Africa's human and natural resources. The consequences of that colonial relationship continue to shape our continent today, even as millions of Africans remain trapped in poverty and deprivation.

We must therefore be careful whenever powerful foreign governments present military intervention, religious protection or humanitarian concern as the principal motivation for their involvement in Africa.

In 2025, President Donald Trump placed Nigeria on the United States' list of Countries of Particular Concern over religious-freedom concerns and repeatedly spoke about the persecution of Christians. On December 25, 2025, the United States carried out airstrikes against ISIS-linked targets in Sokoto State, in coordination with the Nigerian government. The United States claimed that multiple ISIS militants were killed in the operation. However, rather than producing a significant improvement in the country's security situation, the security crisis has continued, with violence and insecurity remaining widespread and, in some areas, worsening.

My political interpretation is that Africans must not look at such developments in isolation. We must examine them against the broader history of imperialism, geopolitical interests and the competition for Africa's strategic resources.

And now, in September 2026, Nigeria and the United States have signed a framework aimed at attracting American investment into Nigeria's mineral sector, which the Nigerian government estimates at about $700 billion. The framework covers geological data and exploration, mineral development and processing, infrastructure and technical capacity.

For me, this raises a fundamental question: What lessons have we learnt from history?

History teaches us that foreign powers rarely engage with Africa without pursuing their own strategic and economic interests.

Unfortunately, many Africans, including religious extremists and sections of the political class, celebrated the rhetoric of foreign intervention without sufficiently interrogating the historical pattern of imperialism and resource extraction. This is why I believe we need less obsession with social-media noise and more serious political education.

AFRICANS MUST READ AFRICAN HISTORY

We must study colonialism. We must study slavery. We must study the scramble for Africa. We must study neocolonialism. We must study how Africa's natural resources have historically been exploited and we must understand how religion, military power, diplomacy and economic interests have sometimes interacted in the pursuit of geopolitical objectives.

History continues to repeat itself when societies refuse to learn from it, and too often, the victims remain the same.

My political interpretation of these neocolonial transactions is that they may represent a strategic concession by the Tinubu regime to US imperialism, potentially aimed at securing the silence or acquiescence of a global power ahead of the forthcoming election. It raises the concern that such an arrangement could be intended to create diplomatic cover for the regime should it attempt to manipulate the election or unleash brutal repression against citizens who may resist electoral malpractice or protest worsening economic hardship.

This concern cannot be divorced from the government's response to the #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria protests, when security forces were accused of using excessive and deadly force against protesters, while others who protested against hunger and economic hardship were arrested and prosecuted on serious charges, including treason. Critics have also argued that international powers largely failed to exert meaningful pressure on the Tinubu administration over these developments, at a time when the government was implementing far-reaching neoliberal economic policies.

From my perspective, this raises a broader question about the relationship between imperial interests and democratic accountability: when a government adopts policies that deepen economic dependence and open the country's resources and markets to powerful foreign interests, do those same foreign powers have an incentive to overlook violations of democratic and human rights when their strategic and economic interests are being protected?

This is precisely why Africans must interrogate neocolonial relationships beyond the language of investment, partnership and development. True sovereignty requires not merely political independence, but the economic freedom to determine how our resources are developed, how our economy is structured and whose interests ultimately determine the direction of our society.

That is why the struggle for democracy and sovereignty cannot depend on the goodwill of imperial powers. We must completely break from imperial dependency.

Africa needs a generation equipped with political education, not merely social-media opinions; a generation capable of understanding the relationship between power, economics, history, religion and imperialism.

We must raise young Africans who understand that the struggle for genuine sovereignty is not simply about changing political leaders. It is about transforming the structures that keep Africa dependent on external powers for security, technology, finance, knowledge and the development of its own natural resources.

Africa must also free itself from religious colonialism, the mindset that makes Africans believe that salvation, civilisation or protection must come from foreign powers. Our liberation cannot be outsourced.

Africa must study its history, understand its present and fight for control of its future. The continent must break free from imperialism, neocolonialism and every form of external dominance, political, economic, cultural and religious.

Francis Nwapa

Socialist Activist and Human Rights Advocate

Media Must Not Choose Nigeria’s Candidates for 2027 Elections — Mẹkunnu Kọya

LAGOS — The Convener of Mẹkunnu Kọya, Comrade Wale Balogun, has called on Nigerian media organisations to ensure equitable and inclusive coverage of all candidates contesting the 2027 presidential, National Assembly, governorship and State House of Assembly elections.

Balogun, in a statement issued on Thursday, warned that disproportionate media attention to a small number of prominent political figures could restrict the democratic choices available to Nigerian voters.

He acknowledged the responsibility of the media to scrutinise established political figures, including their records, policies and controversies, but argued that media organisations should not, through selective coverage, determine which candidates Nigerians get to hear and consider.

According to him, all candidates should be given meaningful opportunities to present their programmes, explain their records and respond to questions on issues affecting the country.

He particularly criticised the practice of organising political debates and inviting only a limited number of candidates without sufficiently transparent and inclusive criteria.

“If the purpose of a debate is to help Nigerians make an informed decision, then the process should be genuinely inclusive,” Balogun said.

He argued that candidates with limited financial resources, political structures or name recognition should not automatically be excluded from national political discourse.

Balogun said the media's democratic responsibility should include exposing voters to political alternatives rather than concentrating attention on candidates who are already prominent within the political establishment.

He urged journalists and media organisations to subject candidates across the political spectrum to rigorous questioning on the economy, insecurity, corruption, unemployment, wages, education, healthcare, constitutional reform, federalism and public debt.

He also called for scrutiny of candidates' records, policy proposals, sources of campaign funding and their capacity to implement their promises.

“This is not a demand for favourable coverage of any candidate. It is a demand for fair and inclusive coverage,” he said.

Balogun maintained that Nigerians should be allowed to assess candidates on the basis of their records, programmes and responses to public scrutiny rather than having the media determine in advance who should be regarded as a serious contender.

He therefore called on media organisations to provide equitable opportunities for candidates to participate in interviews, debates, town-hall meetings and other election-related programmes, subject to reasonable and transparent editorial criteria.

“Let every candidate be heard. Let every record be examined. Let every programme be interrogated. Then let Nigerians decide,” he said.

Balogun said the media had a significant responsibility ahead of the 2027 elections to either expand public access to political choices or inadvertently narrow the democratic space through selective coverage.

He stressed that the choice of Nigeria's elected representatives ultimately belongs to the electorate and not to media organisations.

Comrade Wale Balogun
Convener, Mẹkunnu Kọya
September 24, 2026

Civil Society Coalition Demands Immediate Release of Detained Rights Activist Daniel Ezekiel

 

LAGOS, September 21, 2026 — A coalition of civil society organisations, human rights groups and community advocates has demanded the immediate and unconditional release of Niger Delta rights activist Daniel Ezekiel, while calling for an independent investigation into serious allegations he reportedly made against powerful individuals and entities operating in the region.

The coalition, in a statement issued on Monday, said Ezekiel was allegedly taken from his residence in Life Camp, Abuja, on Friday, September 18, by men whose identities and authority he could not verify.

According to the coalition, Ezekiel was subsequently held at the Agwa Cement Police Station before being transferred to the Force Criminal Investigation Department (Force CID) in Abuja.

It said no charge had been publicly disclosed as of the date of the statement and called on the Nigeria Police Force to clarify the legal basis for the arrest.

The coalition linked the arrest to a petition dated September 3, 2026, reportedly submitted by lawyers representing businessman Chief Ekomieyefa Uduboh to the Inspector-General of Police and the National Cybercrime Centre.

The petition reportedly accused Ezekiel and another individual of publishing defamatory posts on Facebook in late August. The coalition stressed that the allegations contained in the petition remain untested and that Ezekiel is entitled to the presumption of innocence.

However, the groups said the arrest had raised broader concerns because Ezekiel had, for several months, publicly alleged that he witnessed unlawful detention, torture, forced labour and intimidation involving Chief Government Ekpemupolo, popularly known as Tompolo, and individuals he alleged were linked to him and Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited.

The coalition said Ezekiel had submitted petitions to security agencies, government institutions and national and international human rights organisations, alleging the existence of facilities in the Niger Delta where, according to his claims, torture, extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and forced labour occurred.

It said Ezekiel had reportedly supported his allegations with photographs, audio and video recordings, as well as testimonies from alleged victims and their families.

The coalition stressed that the allegations had not been established by a competent investigative authority and therefore called for an impartial investigation rather than allowing the matter to remain unresolved.

“When a whistleblower is detained before the allegations he raised are examined, the public is left to ask whose interests the system is protecting,” said Juwon Sanwolu, Coordinator of the Take It Back Movement (TIB), speaking on behalf of the coalition.

Rights and Due Process Concerns

The coalition cited Section 35 of the 1999 Constitution, the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights as legal protections against arbitrary detention.

It argued that the reported circumstances surrounding Ezekiel's arrest, including the alleged involvement of unidentified men and his subsequent transfers between police facilities, required clarification.

The groups also raised concerns about the use of cybercrime laws in cases involving allegations of defamation and criticism, arguing that such prosecutions could have implications for freedom of expression.

They cited Section 39 of the Nigerian Constitution and Article 19 of the ICCPR, while referring to previous decisions of the ECOWAS Court of Justice concerning Nigeria's cyberstalking provisions.

The coalition said the police and other security agencies should not become instruments for resolving private disputes or intimidating human rights defenders.

Five Demands

The organisations demanded that the Nigeria Police Force immediately release Ezekiel and publicly disclose the legal basis for his arrest.

They also called on the Inspector-General of Police to identify the officers involved and disclose the police unit handling the petition against him.

In addition, the coalition demanded immediate access to lawyers and family members for Ezekiel, appropriate medical attention where necessary, and guarantees for his physical safety.

It further called on the Federal Government, through the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice and the National Human Rights Commission, to facilitate an independent and impartial investigation into the allegations of torture, unlawful detention and forced labour reportedly raised by Ezekiel.

The coalition also urged all parties involved in the dispute to submit to lawful and transparent investigative processes.

It said it would continue to monitor the matter and could petition or activate relevant international mechanisms, including United Nations and African human rights institutions, if Ezekiel remained detained and the allegations were not investigated.

The statement was endorsed by 57 civil society, human rights, legal, development and community organisations, including Take It Back Movement, Sterling Law Centre, Lawyers Without Borders Nigeria, Amnesty International Nigeria, Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR), Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), United Action for Democracy (UAD), Access to Justice, Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), International Press Centre (IPC), Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development (CEHRD), Network on Police Reform in Nigeria and several other organisations.

The allegations against the individuals and organisations named by Ezekiel remain subject to investigation and due process.

GAFAMORG, NCAMKI Demand Full Probe into Deaths of 37 Suspected Miners in NSCDC Custody

 

LAGOS, September 19, 2026 

The Gani Fawehinmi Memorial Organization (GAFAMORG) and the National Coalition Against Mass Killings, Extra-Judicial Killings, Mob Actions and Impunity (NCAMKI) have called for a comprehensive investigation into the reported deaths of 37 suspected illegal miners while in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Niger State.

In a joint statement issued on Saturday, the two civil society organisations said the circumstances surrounding the deaths should be investigated beyond determining the immediate causes of death, urging authorities to examine whether failures in detention and custody safeguards contributed to the tragedy.

The organisations expressed condolences to the families of the deceased and called for the protection of surviving detainees, access to medical attention, information and justice for affected families.

According to GAFAMORG and NCAMKI, the investigation should cover the entire chain of events, including the legality and documentation of the arrests, identities and ages of detainees, detention capacity and possible overcrowding, ventilation, sanitation, food and water, medical care, exposure to hazardous substances or disease, custody registers, complaints, transfers and supervision.

They also called for scrutiny of compliance with applicable criminal justice and detention oversight laws, particularly the Niger State Administration of Criminal Justice Law, 2022.

The organisations said authorities should determine whether mandatory safeguards were followed and, where breaches occurred, whether there were appropriate consequences for deliberate or negligent non-compliance.

“A law that is not enforced is not an effective safeguard,” the organisations said, arguing that oversight mechanisms must be backed by meaningful accountability.

State Police Debate

GAFAMORG and NCAMKI also linked the incident to the wider debate over State Police, arguing that expanded policing powers must be accompanied by enforceable safeguards, independent oversight, transparent custody systems and remedies for violations.

They said no institution exercising arrest and detention powers should operate outside effective accountability mechanisms simply because it is not the Nigeria Police Force.

The organisations further maintained that any move towards State Police should be accompanied by publicly accessible laws, rules, safeguards, oversight mechanisms and remedies for abuse.

Civil Society Monitoring

The organisations said they would seek relevant official records concerning the arrests, detention conditions and deaths and monitor the investigations.

They also plan to examine compliance with the Niger State ACJL and applicable custody safeguards, engage relevant justice, police, NSCDC, National Human Rights Commission and other authorities, and advocate for proper forensic investigation and preservation of evidence.

They said they would also review the practical implementation of detention safeguards, including custody registers, inspection procedures, medical monitoring, reporting and consequences for non-compliance.

The organisations said lessons from the incident would be incorporated into GAFAMORG's 46 Safeguards for State Policing and Justice Delivery in Nigeria, while continuing their documentation of custody deaths, alleged extra-judicial killings, custodial abuse and impunity.

GAFAMORG and NCAMKI stressed that their intervention was not intended to replace any criminal investigation but to ensure that institutional responsibility and the safeguards designed to prevent avoidable deaths are also examined.

“No citizen becomes rightless because he or she has been arrested, and no institution should be beyond accountability under the law,” the organisations said, invoking the legacy of late human-rights lawyer and activist Gani Fawehinmi.

They concluded with a call for the police to establish the truth, forensic investigators to determine the facts, prosecutors to act where evidence warrants and the courts to deliver justice.

The organisations said the wider question Nigeria must answer is: “Where were the safeguards, and if they were ignored, who will be held accountable?”

Signed:
Comrade Babatunde Agunbiade, Chairman, Governing Council, GAFAMORG; and

Comrade Ade Adeoye Adewunmi and the Secretariat of NCAMKI.

ASCSN Disowns Shehu Mohammed, Apebo, Warns Public Against Their Directives

 

ASCSN Disowns Shehu Mohammed, Joshua Apebo Statement, Cites Court Judgment

LAGOS — The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) has disowned a purported statement issued by Shehu Mohammed, declaring that Mohammed and Joshua Apebo no longer have the authority to speak or act on behalf of the union.

In a statement signed by its Secretary-General, Comrade Gamaliel C. Acho, the ASCSN national leadership said the public should disregard any statement, directive or correspondence purportedly issued by Mohammed or Apebo in the name of the association.

The union said its position was based on a judgment of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) in Suit No. NICN/ABJ/169/2025, delivered on April 15, 2026, by Hon. Justice R. B. Haastrup.

According to the ASCSN leadership, the court issued a perpetual injunction restraining Mohammed and Apebo from parading themselves as leaders of the union, convening meetings or interfering with the administration and assets of the association.

The union further stated that the judgment declared Mohammed and Apebo judgment debtors and ordered them to pay a total of ₦70 million in general, exemplary and aggravated damages over what the court allegedly described as acts of disdain, contempt and willful disobedience of judicial orders.

ASCSN: No subsisting stay of execution

The association also maintained that the judgment remains valid and enforceable, stating that an application for a stay of execution was struck out by the trial court on May 20, 2026.

It added that the appellants subsequently withdrew their application for a stay of execution at the Court of Appeal on September 3, 2026.

On that basis, the ASCSN leadership said there was no subsisting stay preventing enforcement of the April 15 judgment.

Union disputes authority of Mohammed and Apebo

The statement also challenged the status of both individuals within the union.

ASCSN described Shehu Mohammed as a suspended member who, according to the union, had been stripped of leadership functions and authority.

On Joshua Apebo, the association alleged that he was a former paid employee of its secretariat rather than a serving civil servant. It said Apebo had been summarily dismissed for alleged gross misconduct, insubordination and anti-union activities.

The union stated that the dismissal was upheld by its governing organs and recognized by the court.

ASCSN warns against acting on purported directives

The association described the continued use of its name, logo and purported authority by the two men as an attempt to circumvent judicial authority.

It cited Section 287(3) of the 1999 Constitution in asserting that authorities, institutions and persons are required to comply with decisions of the courts.

ASCSN consequently warned Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), organised labour, members of the public, media organisations and other stakeholders against acting on communications purportedly issued by Mohammed or Apebo on behalf of the association.

The union said its official communications are issued through its Open Information System (OIS) and signed by the National President, Comrade Innocent Bola-Audu, Ph.D., FCNA, FCTI, or the Secretary-General, Comrade Gamaliel C. Acho.

Legal action threatened

The ASCSN leadership disclosed that its legal team had been directed to document the latest publication allegedly issued by Mohammed and Apebo.

According to the statement, the material would be presented as further evidence of alleged willful disobedience to court orders, with the union indicating that it would pursue committal and other statutory enforcement measures.

The association reaffirmed that it remains committed to what it described as the rule of law, institutional integrity and the welfare of senior civil servants across Nigeria.

The statement was signed by Comrade Gamaliel C. Acho, Secretary-General, Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN).