The Nigerian State Security Service on Wednesday detained a youth organiser who was a fervent supporter of President Goodluck Jonathan during the last presidential election.
Wale Ajani, the Head of the National Youth Council of Nigeria, was arrested after he granted a press interview claiming that the government’s proposed plan to cut fuel subsidies was “evil.” He remains detained by the SSS after he honoured an invitation by the agency to discuss his involvement in a planned hunger strike by youth groups slated for November 11 2011,AFP reports.
Ajani was asked to report to the service police in the capital Abuja on Wednesday.
He was said to have shown up as planned at 11.30 am and still had not been released as of 7.00pm, said Olayemi Success, a programme officer with the organisation.
“We sent our lawyer there,” he said. “They told our lawyer that they are investigating him, that they have a report on him that the opposition is using him against the government.”
Success said, “Their calculation is if they arrest him, the Nigerian youth will back out from the protest, but they are very wrong.”
Ajani’s group had been planning a one-day protest and hunger strike for Friday over government plans to remove the subsidy.
The subsidy is designed in part to hold pump prices at N65 per litre.
Effort of the AFP to get a reaction from the SSS on Wednesday failed.
The Nigerian State Security Service on Wednesday detained a youth organiser who was a fervent supporter of President Goodluck Jonathan during the last presidential election.
Wale Ajani, the Head of the National Youth Council of Nigeria, was arrested after he granted a press interview claiming that the government’s proposed plan to cut fuel subsidies was “evil.” He remains detained by the SSS after he honoured an invitation by the agency to discuss his involvement in a planned hunger strike by youth groups slated for November 11 2011,AFP reports.
Ajani was asked to report to the service police in the capital Abuja on Wednesday.
He was said to have shown up as planned at 11.30 am and still had not been released as of 7.00pm, said Olayemi Success, a programme officer with the organisation.
“We sent our lawyer there,” he said. “They told our lawyer that they are investigating him, that they have a report on him that the opposition is using him against the government.”
Success said, “Their calculation is if they arrest him, the Nigerian youth will back out from the protest, but they are very wrong.”
Ajani’s group had been planning a one-day protest and hunger strike for Friday over government plans to remove the subsidy.
The subsidy is designed in part to hold pump prices at N65 per litre.
Effort of the AFP to get a reaction from the SSS on Wednesday failed.
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