By Ndahi Pirkisu, Maiduguri
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) in Borno State has denied a police account regarding the recent arrest of 5 youths, describing its official statement as a “blatant lie and shameful.”
The controversy follows the arrest of youths wearing “Tinubu Must Go” T-shirts, which sparked widespread debate on conventional and social media.
In a statement signed by the Borno State Police Command spokesperson, DSP Nahum Kenneth on Wednesday, the police vehemently denied that the youths were targeted for their political attire or peaceful assembly.
Instead, the command claimed that five suspects—identified as Baba Aji Gremami, Mustapha Abba Yemen, Abacha Mohammed Ali, Adam Umar Gubio, and Abdulhamid Mohammed—were picked up on September 25, 2026, around 6:00 p.m. by officers on routine patrol near the West-end roundabout.
The police alleged that the suspects were apprehended over charges of thuggery, inciting public disturbance, and possession of illicit substances and dangerous weapons.
However, the Borno State Chairman of the ADC, Kolo Bukar in an interview with some Journalists on Wednesday has fired back, flatly contradicting the police account of events, calling the police report entirely fabricated.
He said, as it is, only four of his innocent members were arrested, contrary to five, as one of the individual that the police claimed they had arrested and found with drugs and dangerous weapons was outside the ADC Secretariat and entirely unknown to them at press time.
The chairman who revealed that the arrested persons including the Leader/Coordinator of the ‘Tinubu Must Go’ movement and a strong supporters of the ADC, Adam Umar Gubio, who hails from the same local government area with the 2027 APC Governorship Candidate, Alhaji Mustapha Gubio, had earlier obtained clearance from the Police Command and the DSS authority for holding their protest, which the aforementioned security agencies granted them and provided them with security cover held at the ADC Secretariat around the popular West-End Roundabout in Maiduguri.
He clarified that the detained individuals were not arrested during a raid for drugs or weapons, but rather for attempting to secure the release of a detained colleague after he was unlawfully arrested by the Police.
“It’s very shameful for the Nigerian police to say that those arrested were found with drugs and dangerous weapons. This is completely a lie. These people went to bail their colleague who was arrested by the police, and they were all subsequently detained,” he said.
According to the chairman, “the youth group had duly secured permission for a peaceful assembly, which was authorized to take place within the party’s secretariat”.
He noted that the members exercised their civil rights peacefully under the protection of the police while wearing the contentious “Tinubu Must Go” T-shirts during the event.
The ADC Chairman further claimed that after the peaceful gathering successfully dispersed, police officers arrested one of our members who voluntarily followed them to collect some of the Tinubu must go Tshirts confiscated by the police.
“The remaining youths were detained simply for showing up at the police station to demand their colleague’s bail. He was initially picked up after the peaceful assembly.
“But the individual that the police claimed they had arrested and found with drugs and dangerous weapons was outside our Secretariat and entirely unknown to us,” he said.
