Some members of the ‘Tinubu Must Go’ movement have kicked against blockade of the venue where they were to hold a meeting.
Abba Hikima, a lawyer and one of the conveners of the movement, raised the alarm that policemen were preventing them from accessing the venue.
According to the movement, the TMG is a non-partisan platform for creating public enlightenment aimed at mobilising Nigerians to vote out President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the 2027 general elections.
The group hinged its action on the administration’s economic policies which it said had inflicted hardship on citizens.
Speaking in a Live video posted on his verified Facebook page on Sunday, Hikima, wearing a shirt and fez cap bearing the inscription ‘Tinubu Must Go’, alleged that about 10 mobile police vehicles had been stationed at the venue of their planned meeting.
Some policemen were seen in the background of the video.
“Today, the 11th of October 2026, we gathered here in Kano State in order to exercise our fundamental human rights and to associate freely in order to exchange ideas and educate ourselves on the need to send away the administration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu in Nigeria.”
“It is clear to Nigerians that Tinubu has failed. It is clear to all Nigerians that Tinubu has failed and there is need for Nigerians to come out and chase him away. But today as usual and as part of the entrenched and systemic corruption, insecurity and recklessness and injustice of this country, you can see already that over 10 vehicles of mobile police have been stationed.
“They have been stationed here in order to prevent us from accessing the private venue which we paid for; we are to gather here to exercise our civic rights… This is even the more reason why Tinubu must go.” Hikima said.
He stated that he had a telephone conversation with the Commissioner of Police in Kano who told him that there was the need to inform the security agency about the meeting, but Hikima assured him that the gathering would be civil and operated within the legal boundaries.
“We are not criminals, we are not thugs, we are not hooligans and we have not committed any offence. And there is nothing wrong with what we are doing right now.
“It is within the bounds of the law. I want to say it clearly that yesterday the Kano State Commissioner of Police, Ibrahim Bakori, called me on the phone and told me that courtesy demands that I inform them of this meeting. I said, ‘Sir, our meeting is going to be in an enclosed environment within a perimeter and we are going to be civil, we are lawyers’.
“The provision of the law is clear that you no longer need police permission to have any gathering. The way you do it in your weddings is the way we have the right to gather here in this event centre and hold this programme. This is our understanding and the law has given us the right, under section 39 of the Constitution, to exchange ideas and opinions.
“And we have the right, under section 40, to associate and we have the personal liberty, under section 35, to do this. The police are oppressors. Tinubu must go. It is now clear that you don’t want us to gather and say and chant Tinubu must go. One of them even told me that they have no problem with us but we just shouldn’t wear this insignia; But I say We must wear this.
“It is our right to do this. It is not insulting. It is not oppressive. It is nothing. It is entirely political and the ban on political campaigning is bitter. Therefore, we are going to do this. We are coming back. Yes, next time we are going to do it. We are doing it.
“The Court of Appeal decision stands. I do not need to inform any security agent to hold my rallies. Next time, we are going to protest; Next time we are going to demonstrate; next time we are going to hit the ground.” he added, amid chants of ‘Tinubu Must Go’.
The Kano State Police Public Relations Officer, CSP Abdullahi Haruna Kiyawa, did not answer calls or respond to text and WhatsApp messages sent to him to find out why the police barricaded the venue.
(Daily Trust)
