Officers of the Department of State Services (DSS) have arrested Mr Micheal Lenin, one of the leaders of the ongoing hunger protests in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Lenin, who is the National Coordinator of the Youth Rights Campaign, was taken into custody around 2am on Monday at his residence in the Apo area of Abuja.
Damilare Adenola, the Director of Mobilisation for the Take It Back Movement, said Lenin was battered by the operatives of the secret police during his arrest.
He said, “Lenin has been arrested by the DSS. He was picked up during a raid on his house around 2 am. He was arrested and tortured in the presence of his family. We are demanding his immediate and unconditional release.”
Lenin had faulted President Bola Tinubu’s national broadcast regarding the ongoing protests. At a press briefing, hr expressed disappointment with the President’s speech, stating that it showed a disconnect from the realities faced by Nigerians.
He noted, “We wish to express our sadness and deep disappointment at the latest broadcast by President Tinubu, which is his first address to the nation on the #EndBadGovernance protests after over three weeks since Nigerians started mobilising to take to the streets and after scores of dead protesters and assaulted journalists from the first three days of the protests.”
He further berated Mr Tinubu for justifying state violence against protesters and journalists and for dismissing the demands of the protesters.
“This, plus the failed attempt to co-opt the progressive and radical language of the protests, only shows how much President Tinubu is out of touch with the masses,” Lenin added.
Though, despite his arrest, Lenin had called for continued protests, urging Nigerians to come out in large numbers on Monday.
He stressed that the government’s tactics of violence and propaganda had failed to suppress the movement.
“The violence and repressions are just attempts to silence and control us, and the propaganda cannot sway or fool us,” he stated.
Meanwhile, the arrest of Lenin and the ongoing protests underscore the escalating tensions between the government and citizens demanding better governance and economic conditions.