Borno State Governor, Prof. Babagana Umara Zulum, has denied ordering the arrest of the “Tinubu Must Go”, five, but fell short of instituting a probe into the matter.
Mr Zulum, issued the denial in Maiduguri on Friday, following reports linking him to the arrest of five persons detained by the police in the state for wearing “Tinubu Must Go” T-shirts.
The governor who stopped short of distancing himself from the allegations, said his administration was focused on restoring peace and rebuilding Borno State after years of Boko Haram insurgency, rather than arresting political opponents.
Zulum claimed that only “desperate politicians” would order the arrest of opposition supporters, stressing that he was not one of them.
He also questioned why he would order the arrest of anyone on political grounds, arguing that Borno had remained an All Progressives Congress, APC, stronghold for more than a decade.
The governor said there was no reason for his administration to fear opposition parties winning elective positions in the state.
He said Borno had remained an APC state since the party came to power, adding that his priority was to restore the state and improve the living conditions of its people.
While the action was condemned by many, political stakeholders argued that the arrest undermines election campaign declared by the Independent Electoral Commission, INEC, ahead of 2027 general elections.
They challenged the governor to go beyond denial and get to the root of the matter.
“The arrest has far reaching political implications because of the timing. It is not about the governor but the negative message it sends accross, which can limit the participation of all stakeholders in the electoral process” Abdulkadir Umar, a political scientist told Daily Intel Newspaper.
According to him, as the state governor, where the incident took place, it leaves a moral and constitutional burden on him to get to the root of the matter and ensure that whoever issued the arrest order was identified, given the widespread outrage and negative political inclination it has on his administration.
” The matter in question is sensitive because Nigerians may not tolerate a situation where they cannot freely express their political choice. So it is both a moral and constitutional burden on the governor to identify who issued the order” he said.
Umar contested the explanation given by the police, insisting that arrest was politically motivated ” The police has come out to explain reasons behind the arrest, but as we all know, the arrest is politically motivated, somebody somewhere must have engineered it, and this is why we are challenging the governor to go beyond denial.” He added.
