In a joint statement issued on Friday, by the Southern Coordinator, Salako Kayode, and Northern Coordinator, Iortyom Moses, obtained by SaharaReporters, WYSN emphasised that the right to protest is enshrined in Nigeria's constitution.
The Workers and Youth Solidarity Network (WYSN) has called for the immediate and unconditional release of all #EndBadGovernance protesters who were arrested and detained by the administration of President Bola Tinubu.
According to the group, those detained have been subjected to unjust accusations and held in various prisons and detention centers across the country, including Abuja, Kaduna, Kano, and other states.
WYSN also disclosed the arrest of Daniel Akande, who was reportedly apprehended during a church service in a "Gestapo-like" manner.
He is currently being held at the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) unit of the Nigeria Police Force.
In a joint statement issued on Friday, by the Southern Coordinator, Salako Kayode, and Northern Coordinator, Iortyom Moses, obtained by SaharaReporters, WYSN emphasised that the right to protest is enshrined in Nigeria's constitution.
The group urged the Tinubu administration to end the criminalisation of peaceful protests, drop all charges, and release the detained activists immediately.
WYSN condemned the administration's response to the protests, labeling it as a campaign of repression and terror against citizens, activists, and socialists.
They argued that the people illegally arrested were simply exercising their constitutional right to peacefully protest against bad governance and the anti-people policies that have worsened living conditions across the country.
The organisation called on the Nigerian government to respect citizens' fundamental rights and cease its crackdown on dissent, warning that such actions undermine the country's democratic values.
The statement read, "The government has, instead of finding lasting solutions to the problems it's Policies have created, has rather sadly, kept fighting to close the Civic and Democratic space.
"On 1 of September, 2024 on a Sunday, Comrade Akande Daniel was arrested in a Gestapo manner during a Church service, taken to, and detained at the Intelligence Response Team-IRT unit of the Nigeria Police Force. The only crime Daniel committed was supporting the EndBadGovernace Protest.
According to the statement, "Till date, Comrade Daniel Akande has continued to be illegally detained at the IRT, Police Facility in Abuja without taken to any court.
"His continued detention violates Sections 34 and 39 of the Nigerian Constitution, which guarantees the fundamental Rights to his Personal Liberty as well as to his Freedom of Expression.
It said,"While languishing in illegal detention, his friends and lawyers have filed a fundamental human rights enforcement at the federal high court on Wednesday, 11 of September,2024.
The group explained that the Nigeria's Attorney General and Minister of Justice Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, has refused to assign the case to a judge.
"Instead, he chose to clamp comrade Daniel in chains and dump him in the dungeon of the IRT and gleefully jet off to Mexico to attend the International Bar Conference, a gathering of Chief Law Officers of Countries, whereas at home, the country's Attorney general has little or no regard for the Constitution of the country or the Provisions as enshrined therein.
"We recall that in March of 2020, it was the same Prince Fagbemi SAN, then as Lawyer to the then deposed Emir of Kano, Lamido Sanusi Lamido, had taken strong exception to the illegal detention of the deposed Emir by the then government of Kano state under Abdullahi Ganduje, and had expressly filled motion ex parte for the release of Sanusi Lamido Sanusi on 13/3/20;
"The case was assigned by the Chief Judge on 13/03/2020 and taken to Justice Chikere the same day. It was argued by Sanusi's lawyer, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, and the ruling was delivered on 13/03/2020. Sanusi's release was ordered, and a certified true copy (C-T-C) of the release order was processed and served on 13/03/2020. Consequently, Sanusi was released on the same day."
It said, "Today, the same Lateef Fagbemi SAN has become suddenly repugnant to Rule of Law. How unfortunate.
"We therefore unequivocally demand that Akande Daniel and all protesters arraigned on trumped-up charges by the Nigerian government be released with immediate effect.
They explained that the Nigerian government could not continue to put millions of Nigerians into abject poverty and expect the suffering citizenry and activists not to react, but to continue to look helplessly.
It continues, "We wish to point out to the government, that Nigerians will continue to stand up against the anti-poor Policies until the Tinubu's administration makes an end implementing the poverty-ridden, neo-liberal policies that are responsible for mass misery amongst the people.
"We therefore once again use this medium to call on change-seeking Elements to join us to demand an end to the mass arrests, repressions and unjust incarceration of Nigerians for defending their Democratic Rights.
"We call on Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) and other social movements to stand against attempts by this administration to put Nigerians in chains for and in fear of defending our Democratic Rights.
"The Labours of our Heroes past, will never be in vain," the statement added.