Nigeria Frees 5 Anti-govt Protesters: Lawyer

Nigeria's security agency has released five people detained for a month in the capital Abuja after wearing T-shirts criticising President Muhammadu Buhari, their lawyer said

Abuja (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 4th Aug, 2021 ) :Nigeria's security agency has released five people detained for a month in the capital Abuja after wearing T-shirts criticising President Muhammadu Buhari, their lawyer said.

The men were arrested on July 4 by the Department of State Services (DSS) for wearing T-shirts with the slogan "Buhari Must Go!" during a church service.

They were released almost a week after a judge granted them bail, their lawyer Tope Temokun said in a statement late on Tuesday.

"On 3rd of August," he said, "the DSS bowed to the fireworks from the people of Nigeria and released the DUNAMIS 5." Dunamis, or the Dunamis International Gospel Centre, is an evangelical church led by a well-known preacher, who was accused of aiding the arrests but denied the allegation.

"On behalf of these courageous young men, who will now go down in history... who all just spent 30 days in the DSS prison, for wearing Buhari Must Go T-shirts, I thank Nigerians for the outcry," Temokun said.

The protesters had been arraigned on July 28 for "breach of public peace" and were "all granted bail" the lawyer added, but they were released only six days later.

The DSS did not immediately respond to AFP's request for comment on Wednesday morning.

Buhari, a 78-year-old former army commander, has come under fire after his government recently banned Twitter, a move Western allies and critics warned undermined freedom of expression.