Briton fumes as police declare him wanted for plotting Tinubu’s overthrow

• Nine suspects arraigned for treason

British national, Andrew Wynne, also known as Andrew Povich, has reacted as the Police Force declared him wanted for allegedly plotting to overthrow President Bola Tinubu.

A Nigerian, Lucky Obiyan, was also declared wanted on the same allegation. The police accused Wynne of building a network to topple the Tinubu administration and promised to reward any Nigerian, who would facilitate the arrest of Wynne.

The allegations are contained in a Special Police Gazette Bulletin shared with journalists at Force Headquarters. It accused both men of terrorism financing, treasonable felony, cybercrime, subversion and criminal conspiracy.

The police alleged that the Briton had fled Nigeria. But Wynne, in a statement on the letterhead of his bookshop, dismissed the allegations, saying that a protest by the citizens of a nation should not be treated as treason.

“Protest is not treason, release all the detainees! The mass protests over #EndBadGovernance and #EndHunger frightened the government. But rather than addressing the people’s demands, the government turned to repression.

“Perhaps, 40 people were murdered by the police and other security forces, thousands were arrested and many remain in captivity. In Abuja, the authorities have attacked the so-called leaders and organisers of the protests. Ten people face ridiculous charges, including treason, mutiny and levying war against the state.”

Force spokesperson, MuyiwaAdejobi, told journalists in Abuja that Wynne rented a space at Labour House and established a school to serve as a decoy. “The Nigeria Police Force has launched a comprehensive investigation into the activities of foreign national and subversive elements plotting to undermine the democratically elected government in Nigeria through unconstitutional regime change and orchestrating violence across the country.

In addition to declaring Wynne wanted, the police also announced the arrest of nine suspects, who received substantial financial backing from foreign sources to destabilise the country.

The suspects were yesterday, arraigned before a Federal High Court in Abuja on charges of treason and incitement against the government between July 1 and August 4 this year.

The accused persons were said to have committed a treasonable offence during their one-week nationwide protests when they allegedly levied war against Nigeria.

The offences were said to be contrary to Sections 96, 410 and 413 of the Penal Code. The IGP, who brought the charges against them, alleged that the accused persons broke into the Abacha Army Barracks and openly called on the military to take over the constitutional government of President Tinubu.

The alleged offences were said to have been committed in Abuja, Kano, Kaduna and Gombe, among others. However, all the accused persons pleaded not guilty to the charges when read to them.

The accused persons are Michael TobilobaAdaramoye, Adeyemi Abiodun Abayomi, Suleiman Yakubu, OpaluwaEleojo Simon, Angel Love Innocent, Buhari Lawal, Mosiu Sadiq, Bashir Bello Nurudeen Khamis and Abduldalam Zubair.

Upon their denial of the allegations, counsel for the IGP, Simon Lough, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) asked Justice Emeka Nwite to remand the accused persons in prison pending their trial.

However, counsel for the defendants moved oral applications for bail of the accused persons. In a brief reaction, Justice Emeka Nwite ordered that the defendants be remanded in Kuje prison in Abuja and Suleja prison in Niger State and adjourned ruling in their bail applications till September 11. Justice Nwite said he needed time to consult the many authorities cited by lawyers to back up the bail applications.