Security forces detained key figures of the Take-It-Back Movement (TIB) in Yobe State, including coordinator Abubakar Jawa, as they prepared for a protest calling for the abolition of the Cybercrime Act.
Jawa was apprehended along with four others—Mohammed Kayeri Adam, Suleiman A. Gambo, Maimuna Abba, and another individual bearing the same name, Abubakar Jawa.
The protest was designed to raise alarm over the implications of the law on freedom of speech and civic rights.
The arrests occurred at the assembly point designated for the protest. However, police in the state have denied detaining any protesters.
Public Relations Officer Dungus Abdulkarim insisted that the police had neither encountered nor apprehended any members of the TIB movement.
He emphasized the willingness of police to secure such protests if organizers properly identified themselves.
He stated: “We’ve opened communication channels and are ready to offer support for any lawful protest, but no TIB representative has engaged us so far. Hence, we’ve made no arrests.”
In a related development, the DSS in Osun State summoned the TIB’s state Organising Secretary, Olasunkanmi Mary Oluwatosin, ahead of the April 7 mass demonstration.
Despite mounting pressure, the TIB insists the protest will proceed as planned. The movement accuses President Tinubu’s administration of authoritarian rule, trampling on civil liberties, and misusing the Cybercrime Act to silence dissent.
Dubbed “Nationwide Protest Against Bad Governance and Suppression of Free Speech,” the protest is intended as a direct challenge to growing repression in the country.
Oluwatosin disclosed that a DSS officer reached out to her on Saturday, followed by another anonymous call on Sunday summoning her to the agency’s Osogbo headquarters.