The activist coalition, OurMumuDonDo Movement, has asked the Department of State Security (DSS) to immediately and unconditionally release Mr. Tony Ezimakor, Abuja Bureau Chief of Independent Newspapers, who has been in detention since Wednesday.
The Movement made the demand in a statement issued on Saturday. Jointly signed by its members, the statement expressed the coalition's displeasure at the denial of the detainee access to his lawyers and to his anti-hypertension medication.
It equally noted that Mr. Ezimakor's family has been denied access to him.
"His arrest and detention is in continuation of the clampdown on freedom of speech and free press by the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari in violation of the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution.
"It is important to raise an alarm in a bid to halt the nation's almost inexorable slide towards dictatorship and the horrible experiences suffered by Nigerian citizens between 1984 and 1985 when President Buhari held sway as a military dictator," said OurMumuDonDo.
The coalition called on all Nigerians and the international community to prevail on President Buhari to order the immediate and unconditional release of Mr. Ezimakor. It also stated that it will not hesitate to mobilize Nigerians to occupy the DSS headquarters if Mr.
Ezimakor is neither released nor granted access to his critical medication, his lawyer, and his family.
Signatories to the statement were Messrs.
Adebayo Raphael of OurMumuDonDo, Deji Adeyanju of Concerned Nigerians, Ariyo Dare Atoye of Coalition in Defence Of Nigerian Democracy, Bako Abdul Usman of Campaign For Democracy and Moses Paul of MAD Connect.
