Indictations have emerged that the President Bola Tinubu Government has began a clampdown on the leaders of the ongoing Endbadgovernance protests after operatives of the Department of State Services raided the home of Micheal Lenin in the Federal Capital Territory, whisking him away.
Lenin is one of the leaders of the protest and the raid on his residence in the Apo area of the FCT and his arrest reportedly took place around 2am on Monday.
The Director of Mobilisation, Take It Back Movement, Damilare Adenola, who told the Punch that Lenin’s house was raided by the DSS, said the DSS also assaulted him during his arrest.
Adenola said, “ Lenin has been arrested by the DSS. He was picked up during a raid on his house around 2am.
“He was arrested and tortured in the presence of his family. We are demanding his immediate and unconditional release.“
Lenin, who is the National Coordinator, of the Youth Rights Campaign, was arrested hours after he expressed disappointment with President Bola Tinubu’s broadcast on Sunday.
At a media briefing in Abuja, he said the President’s broadcast demonstrated that he is out of touch with reality in the country.
Lenin had vowed that the protest would continue massively on Monday, calling on the citizens to come out in large numbers.
According to him, “The violence and repressions are just attempts to silence and control us, and the propaganda cannot sway or fool us.”
He said, “We wish to express our sadness and deep disappointment at the latest broadcast by President Tinubu which is his first address to the nation on the #EndBadGovernance protests, after over three weeks since Nigerians started mobilising to take to the streets and after scores of dead protesters and assaulted journalists from the first three days of the protests.
“ Many had requested that the President should just address the nation when the protest was being mobilised and when it started to escalate, but most of us did not know that the President would only justify state violence on protesters and journalists while dismissing the demands of the protesters whenever he decides to speak.
“This, plus the failed attempt to co-opt the progressive and radical language of the protests only shows how much President Tinubu is out of touch with the masses.“
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