Daud Olatunji
The Borno State Police Command has arrested and charged five men accused of printing and wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the inscription “Tinubu Must Go” in Maiduguri, the state capital.
The suspects were subsequently remanded in a correctional facility following their arraignment, according to a First Information Report reportedly issued by the State Criminal Investigation Department, Maiduguri.
The five men identified in the police document are Baba Aji Gremami, 44; Mustapha Abba Yemen, 28; Abbacha Mohammed Ali, 32; Adam Umar Gubio, 21; and Abdulhamid Mohammed, 21.
The FIR, dated September 29, 2026, and addressed to the Chief Magistrate Court in Maiduguri, accused the men of criminal conspiracy, inciting disturbance, disturbance of public peace and thuggery.
According to the police, the suspects allegedly conspired to print T-shirts bearing the words “Tinubu Must Go” with the intention of causing a breach of public peace around the West End Roundabout community in Maiduguri.
The alleged offences were said to contravene Sections 60, 78, 79 and 392 of the Borno State Penal Code.
The police document stated, in part, that the suspects “conspired together by printing same T shirt with some inscription written ‘Tinubu Must Go’ on it with the intent to cause breach of public peace within West End roundabout community.”
The officer in charge of the investigation subsequently directed that the case be taken to court.
PLATFORM TIMES gathered that the suspects were arraigned and remanded in custody, although details of the court proceedings and the specific terms of the remand order were not immediately available.
The circumstances surrounding the arrests have also generated attention because the inscription on the shirts expresses opposition to President Bola Tinubu, whose administration is currently operating ahead of the 2027 general elections.
A report by SaharaReporters, which obtained the police document, quoted an unnamed source as alleging that the arrests followed a directive from the Borno State Governor, Prof. Babagana Umara Zulum, to the Commissioner of Police, CP Naziru Abdulmajid.
However, the alleged directive could not independently be verified from the material available, and the police document cited the alleged conduct of the suspects as the basis for the charges.
The arrests come amid increased political mobilisation across the country ahead of the 2027 elections.
Governor Zulum recently returned from an overseas trip and subsequently launched an All Progressives Congress mobilisation campaign in Borno in support of President Tinubu and other APC candidates.
The phrase “Tinubu Must Go” has also featured in opposition protests and political demonstrations in different parts of Nigeria.
In the Borno case, however, the police FIR specifically linked the alleged offences to the printing and wearing of the T-shirts and the alleged intention to cause a breach of public peace.
The suspects remain accused persons, and the allegations against them have yet to be established by a court.
PLATFORM TIMES could not independently confirm the latest status of the case or obtain comments from the Borno State Police Command, the state government or the suspects as of the time of filing this report.
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