The three avowed critics of the #EndBadGovernance protest arrested in Kaduna narrate their journeys to becoming treason suspects through apparently harmless social media activities.
All 10 individuals charged with treason over the August hunger protest are often labelled #EndBadGovernance protesters. However, three of them claim not only to have abstained from the protest but also to have criticised it and rebuked the organisers. They also urged Nigerians to be patient with the government, which they argued was doing its best to address the economic challenges and grievances the protest sought to highlight.
Bashir Bello (aka Murtala), 51; Nurudeen Khamis, 47; and Abdulsalam Zubairu, 37, were arrested in Kaduna before the 10-day protest concluded in August. Their case leaves many questions unanswered, with civil society groups still in shock over how the protest could be deemed an offence by the government, let alone a serious crime like treason.
The three men have been detained at various times by the police, the State Security Service (SSS) in Kaduna, and the Nigeria Correctional Centre in Abuja. Since their arrest in August and subsequent arraignment in September, they have spent over a month in detention.
On 2 September, the Nigerian police arraigned them alongside seven other defendants at the Federal High Court in Abuja. The seven other protesters have similarly faced prolonged detention at both police and correctional facilities in Abuja.
The charges the police filed against them are some of the most serious in Nigeria's law books. They include conspiring with a British socialist, Andrew Wynne, also called Drew Povey, who has been declared wanted by the Nigerian police, to overthrow the administration of President Bola Tinubu.
Mr Wynne, who stated that he freely left Nigeria on 4 August, as he has done during his frequent visits to the country over the past 25 years, has denied the allegations. He maintained that protest is not a crime and added that he does not know most of the defendants.
PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported the accounts of four of the defendants about the protest in Abuja and their responses to police's allegations in the separate statements they wrote down during police interrogations in August.
This report brings further exclusive details of the statements of the three avowed critics of the protest arrested in Kaduna, reliving their journeys to becoming a treason suspect by obviously harmless social media activities.
Nurudeen Khamis - 'I never participated in the protest directly or indirectly'
The State Security Service (SSS) operatives arrested Nurudeen Khamis, a 42-year-old businessman, at home in Kaduna at about 3.00 p.m. on 7 August.
Mr Khamis was held along with his friend and business partner, Bashir Bello, and Abdusalam Zubairu, in connection with the #EndBadGovernance protest. Mr Zubairu appears to have a shop next to Mr Bello's in Kaduna.
They were held for nine days, released, only to be reinvited the following day and detained for another three days. They were eventually handed over to the police in Abuja.
In a statement he wrote during police interrogation in Abuja on 22 August, Mr Khamis categorically denied participating in the protest. He penned the statement between 7.30 p.m. and 11 p.m.
"From 1 August to 6 August, I did not participate in the protest in any way. I do not belong to any #EndBadGovernance group." Mr Khamis stated.
"I mean, I never participated in the protest directly or indirectly," he insisted, repeatedly denying having anything to do with the #EndBandGovernance demonstrations.
He went on to detail how he spent each day from 1 August until the moment SSS operatives arrested him on 7 August. The husband of two wives and father of ten children stated that he mostly remained indoors, leaving home briefly on a few occasions to pray at the mosque, visit a friend, and attend to his business.
However, he traced his arrest to two protest-related posts that appeared on his Facebook timeline during the nationwide demonstrations. While he admitted to sharing one of the posts, he insisted he did not know how the other post ended up on his timeline.
He recalled a strange development that began two days before his arrest. On 5 August, he said, he received a WhatsApp message from an unknown number, later identified as Suleiman. He remembered being prodded by Suleiman, who claimed to be a friend, though Mr Khamis couldn't remember him, to suggest a solution to the ongoing protest.
"It started with a call via WhatsApp that I didn't pick up. He then greeted me and said, "Call me back. "I said, "Who is this? "He replied that he was a friend. I asked what his name was, and he said Suleiman. Then I replied that I didn't remember knowing him.
"He said I didn't need to remember him, and he proceeded in regard to the ongoing protests. He asked what was the way out, and I responded that prayer was the only solution, and we both sought Allah's intervention, and that was the end of the conversation," wrote Mr Khamis, who obtained a law diploma from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, in 2010.
On the following day, 6 August, Mr Khamis said a friend who happened to be a police officer called him to ask if he had made any posts on Facebook. "I said no, but he insisted that I should check my account."
"When I checked, I saw two posts," he wrote.
He explained that one of the posts he admitted sharing on his timeline showed "a woman speaking on video at a protest, saying the prices of goods have risen." According to him, the woman in the video pleaded with the "government to do something about the inflation of the prices."
He said the second video, which he said he could not explain how it got to his timeline, showed some boys protesting.
He explained further, "For the first video, I remember that I saw it on the Facebook account of a friend called Ado Bala, and I shared it. However, I really sympathise with the woman in the video (because of) the way she was saying it and pleading with the government to help."
But for the second video, Mr Khamis said, "I told him (his friend) I don't know how, and I have never seen that post until my attention was drawn to it. I suspect that my account has been hacked. My police officer friend advised me to put a disclaimer on my Facebook, which I did."
Mr Khamis explained how his family friend and business partner, Mr Bello, was arrested by SSS through him.
According to him, Mr Bello, a resident of Rafinguza in Kawo District of Kaduna, was arrested on the same 7 August.
"He owns a business centre where I do some work or do it in his house when I was given the offer to work with the company I'm working with now, KKKingdom. I asked him to help manage my own company when I was arrested by members of the DSS (SSS) on 7 August.
"They blindfolded me and drove me to a location that I don't know because my face was covered. After a while, they stopped and asked me whether I knew any Bashir Bello; they showed me his number, and I replied, yes. They asked again where his house was, and I replied to Rafinguza, but I didn't know the exact house; I only knew the name of the area.
"They asked how they could get him. And I told them I knew a school in his area, and if they gave me my phone, I could call him. They called his (Bello's) number and put it on loudspeaker, and I spoke to him and told him that I was at Rafinguza close to Bejin School; he said okay, he was coming to meet me at the gate of the school; and they took me to their office for questioning," he wrote.
As innocuous as the Facebook post about the woman was, Mr Khamis expressed regrets sharing it.
"I want to clearly express that my post on 3 August, that is, the video of a woman I shared on my Facebook account that was pleading with the government, was wrong at the time of protest or within the period of protest, though it does not contain any provocative or violent act," Mr Khamis wrote.
Reiterating his stance against the protest, he maintained that he was not part of the organisers or knew of the organisers. In his view, the protest was baseless.
"My view ... is that the government needs more time to respond to the needs of the citizens," he wrote, adding that the challenges confronting President Bola Tinubu's administration, which was barely one year in office, were inherited from previous administrations. He said the government "needs more time to face the challenges."
Mr Khamis said he was aware that the protest, which he opposed, led to "destruction of property, loss of lives or properties, or anything that is against the federal or state governments."
Speaking of his experience in SSS custody, he said he did not know Abdusalam Zubairu until they met during the detention. However, he noted that Mr Zubairu, who runs a business close to Mr Bello, said they previously had dealings, which he could not remember.
On 16 August, Mr Khamis said the SSS officials informed him, Mr Bello, Mr Zubairu, and one other person that they had been cleared of any wrongdoing.
He said they were released on bail but were surprisingly reinvited to be further detained the following day.
His surprise was not just about their second detention by the SSS. He noted that the fourth person, who had been detained with them during their initial detention and had admitted to participating in the protest in Kaduna, was not called back for questioning.
"I am surprised that of the four of us that were cleared and released by the DSS on 16 August and reinvited to the DSS on 17 August, it was only three of us that were handed over to the police; the fourth person, who is Saminu aka DanAlhaji, was not handed over to the police for reasons we don't know.
"When we were in our cell, Saminu, aka DanAlhaji revealed to us that he participated in the protest and addressed youths in front of the Kaduna State Government House that they should do a peaceful protest, and he wrote on his Mercedes car 'Peaceful Protest'. We left him in Kaduna at the DSS, and we don't know his whereabouts," Mr Khamis wrote.
Bashir Bello, 51 - 'My post during the protest was wrong, though it blames the protesters'
Bashir Bello, 51, is in the printing business and handles supply contracts for his business partner, Mr Khamis.
He was arrested by SSS operatives at about 4 p.m. on 7 August in Rafinguza in Kaduna.
He wrote his first statement while in police custody in Abuja between 10.30 a.m. and 11.51 a.m. on 22 August in Abuja. He wrote the second one between 11.05 a.m. and 1.20 p.m. on 24 August.
The statements are strikingly like Mr Khamis' in substance, highlighting their shared experiences from their arrest.
He detailed how SSS operatives first arrested Mr Khamis and then used Mr Khamis to lure him into arrest.
According to him, he and his friend were held in SSS custody for nine days and later transferred to the police in Kaduna before they were finally handed over to the Force Investigation Department/Intelligence Response Team (FID/IRT) in Abuja.
Mr Bello, who bagged a Higher National Diploma (HND) in Marketing from the Kaduna Polytechnic in 1999, wrote legibly and coherently, expressing his thoughts clearly.
He described himself as a patriot and affirmed his belief in criticism as a demonstration of patriotism.
He believes that protest is an acceptable means for an individual or group of persons to express grievances against a particular action in "a peaceful assembly or demonstration."
However, he did not mince words condemning the #EndBadGovernance protest.
"I am a patriot passionately committed to making Nigeria the best country on earth. As criticism is the highest stage of patriotism, I do not hesitate in offering my comments on national discourse. I had no grudges or grievances against the government.
"I am not happy with the protest as I do not subscribe to violent protest as a means of bringing about a positive change in a country. When people need change, they should do that through political processes of elections or parliamentary representation," he wrote.
He recalled how he was forced to trek the final stretch of his journey to his shop on the first day of the protest because protesters had mounted a barricade on the road under the bridge in Kawo, Kaduna, preventing vehicles from passing through.
"Later, I got to know that the protest went violent from the news on radio and other media, (and) that some hoodlums vandalised some public and private property. Vandalising and looting are not part of a peaceful or assembly," Mr Bello wrote.
He recalled running into the protesters' barricade again on 5 August, preventing him from keeping a business appointment with a friend.
According to him, the state government imposed a dusk-to-dusk curfew that day.
That same day, 5 August, he took to his Facebook page to criticise the protest.
"I hold a Facebook account named Bashir Bello where I make comments on social media on national issues. During the protest, I posted some comments on my Facebook account where I stated that the protest lacks leadership and thus is bound to fail the organisers of the protest of 1 August 2024. Maybe I was arrested based on my comments on Facebook. "The comment reads, 'Apart from Lagos, where some known faces participated, I cannot see any other state being led by those who matter. The protest lacks merit, as those who ought to have been in the lead are nowhere to be found.
"The post was made on 5 August 2024. I also stated that I did not subscribe to the protest even though protests do happen and that the protest has been hijacked by miscreants and hoodlums and is unfortunate that it ended in violence," his statement read in part.
Mr Bello attributed his arrest by the SSS operatives to the Facebook post, despite the post being critical of the protest. "I am against the protest," he stressed.
Like Mr Khamis, Mr Bello also expressed confidence in President Tinubu's administration's efforts at resolving the problems the protesters complained about while also regretting his Facebook post of 5 August, despite being critical of the protest.
"My opinion about the government of the day is that of any government, which is faced with the challenges of delivering democratic dividends and good governance and is doing its best to these challenges such as employment creation, jobs, security, welfare, and economic stability, etc.
"My post on that day during the protest was wrong, though it blames the protesters, who allowed hoodlums to seize the opportunity and unleash their mayhem on people and property because what I said was that the protest lacked leadership and was therefore bound to fail.
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"Though I made the post in good faith, it was not in the best of times when the nation was gripped by such violence. I pray that the nation shall never again experience such an act of violence in history," he wrote.
Recalling his arrest on 7 August in Kaduna, he said his business partner had earlier called him on the phone, during which they agreed to meet over a project. He said he would later realise that Mr Khamis had already been arrested and held in SSS custody when he called him.
He also detailed how the SSS held them for nine days, granted them bail and reinvited them until they were transferred to the police in Kaduna before handing them over to the police in Abuja.
Abdulsalam Zubairu - 'Nigerians should rather seek help from almighty God'
Abdulsalam Zubairu, a 37-year-old entrepreneur, was similarly arrested by SSS operatives in Kaduna.
His account of his ordeal was similar in substance to those of Mr Khamis and Mr Bello, with whom he was detained.
He recounted his arrest In the statement he later wrote in police custody in Abuja between 2.45 p.m. and 4.30 p.m. on 22 August.
"They asked us to submit everything we had with us, including my handset, keys, cash and shoes. There were four of us present on that day: Mallam Bashir, Khamis and Saminu and me. We were taken to a room with four chairs inside and a toilet with a TV," he said.
Mr Zubairu also expressed his stance against the protest and his belief that the policies of the President Tinubu-led government would help revamp Nigeria's economic resources.
The man recalled receiving a call from his mother cautioning him against joining the protest or going out while it lasted.
"During the protest period, I never came out of my house and was never seen at any protest ground," he stated.
He rebuked the protesters as "lazy Nigerian youths that do not believe in themselves and their country and would like to advise Nigerians." He then advised Nigerians to "rather seek help from almighty God." He said, "The perpetrators should let us please live in peace because peace alone is enough for us to live in this nation."
He noted that he learnt through Arise TV News TV that the #EndBadGovernance protest turned violent and led to the death of people.
"I felt bad because it's not supposed to be a violent protest," he wrote, adding, "Even if the protest didn't turn violent, I'm not in support of it because the government is making a positive policy that will liberate the country."
However, unlike Messrs Khamis and Bello, Mr Zubairu said he had no social media presence except WhatsApp.
Mr Zubairu, who hails from Kwara State, stated that he belonged to a WhatsApp group called the Ilorin Descendants Union, where posts relating to the protest were dropped. But he said the content was purely against the protest.
He said the messages were "not the cause of destruction because the content is against the nature of the protest."
Bewildered by the reason for his arrest, he explained the protest pictures he viewed on the statuses of some of his WhatsApp contacts.
"The videos and pictures of the protest were majorly obtained from the Phoenix browser application. After watching the status, it directly goes to the application and you decide whether to save or ignore it," he explained.
He also recalled how the SSS officials initially cleared them of wrongdoing and granted them bail. "But we were surprised to hear a different thing that the man [they handed us over to] would continue from where they stopped.
He also wrote about the mysterious "Saminu", who was in SSS custody with them but was not handed over to the police.
