The Briton, Drew Povey, accused of inciting insurrection against the Tinubu-led government has asked the Nigerian government not to treat protests as treason.
Povey, whom the Nigerian government said also bears the name Andrew Wynne, was reacting to the government’s allegation of building “a network of sleeper cells to topple the Bola Tinubu administration and plunge the nation into chaos.”
The government raided and sealed his bookshop located at the Abuja headquarters of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).
Earlier today September 2, the FG arraigned ten Nigerians who participated in last month’s #EndBadGovernance protest in Abuja. Part of the charges against them was that they collaborated with the 70-year-old Briton, “with intent to destabilize Nigeria, call on the military to take over the government from President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.”
In his statement written on the letterhead of his bookshop, Mr Povey asked the government to release 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” he said.
Read Mr Povey’s full statement below.
“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 still 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.
The NLC promised a general strike to protect its President, Joe Ajaero, from arrest and detention in relation to similar charges. Despite the flimsy nature of the evidence against the detainees, they face long years in prison unless the trade union movement is prepared to protect them. On 7th August the NLC said it, “condemns in the strongest terms the human rights violations perpetrated by security forces against peaceful protesters.”
The first person to be arrested in this case was Eleojo Opaluwa. He is a former colleague of Joe Ajaero, working for NUEE, the electricians union, as an organiser in Abuja. He is also the Vice Chair of the NLC in Kogi State. He has now been detained for over 4 weeks with no tangible evidence. His family was told that he had received a WhatsApp message from one of the other alleged leaders. This was after Eleojo had actually been detained. The ten detainees have been accused of conspiracy to commit a range of serious crimes.
However, they barely know each other. Five of them may have been members of a WhatsApp group set up to organise the protests in Abuja. But the other five are unknown to these comrades. They may be a few of the flag waving protesters from Kano who were added to extend the range of the organizers to cover the main protests from Sokoto to Maiduguri There appears to be a conflict between the government and the police investigating this case. The head of the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) told the detainees’ lawyers that he would have released them, but that he had orders from above not to set them free. So the police have developed what appears to be a ridiculous case involving the owner of Iva Valley Books.
They are claiming that he goes under the name of Andrew Povich, a Russian-sounding name, and that he has now left Nigeria for Russia. Neither of these claims are true. Yomi, who works for Iva Valley Books, has, like the other detainees, been treated in a terribly inhumane manner. He was arrested in front of his wife and three-year-old daughter. All their phones were confiscated by the police. This was despite appeals from his wife that they needed a phone to get money for food. He was then imprisoned illegally and held in chains, beaten and tortured for three days. His only involvement was to design flyers for the protests on the instructions of his boss. The NLC has shown that it has the power to protect its President. It now needs to extend this action to protect its other officers, its members and the general public”
It would be recalled that the police earlier today declared a British national, Andrew Wynne (also known as Andrew Povich or Drew Povey) and a Nigerian, Lucky Ehis Obiyan, wanted over an alleged plot to overthrow President Bola Tinubu’s democratically elected government.
This was disclosed by the force spokesperson, ASP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, at Force Headquarters, Abuja today, Monday, September 2, 2024, in reaction to the ongoing investigation of the EndBadGovernance protesters.
According to Adejobi, the British rented a space at Labour House, Abuja, for an ‘Iva Valley Bookshop’ and established ‘STARS of Nations Schools’ as a cover for his subversive activities.
Adejobi told journalists that documentary evidence and confessions revealed that Andrew Wynne issued directives and monitored progress of the August protest.
The spokesperson added that the foreigner provided finance and operational guidance to achieve unconstitutional regime change in Nigeria.
“The Nigeria Police Force has launched a comprehensive investigation into the activities of a foreign national and subversive elements plotting to undermine the democratically elected government in Nigeria through unconstitutional regime change and orchestrating violence across the country,” he said.
“Following extensive intelligence gathering and collaboration with other security agencies, nine suspects have been apprehended, who received substantial financial backing from foreign sources to destabilize the country.
“Preliminary findings suggest they orchestrated and funded violent protests, disseminated false information, and engaged in other unlawful activities to create anarchy and justify their illegal plot to overthrow the democratically elected government.”
“Investigations have identified a foreign mercenary, Andrew Wynne (also known as Andrew Povich or Drew Povey), a British national, who built a network of sleeper cells to topple the government and plunge the nation into chaos
“He rented a space at Labour House, Abuja, for an ‘Iva Valley Bookshop’ and established ‘STARS of Nations Schools’ as a cover for his subversive activities
“Documentary evidence and confessions revealed that Andrew Wynne issued directives, monitored progress, and provided finance and operational guidance to achieve unconstitutional regime change in Nigeria
“He mobilized and deployed several billions of naira to his Nigerian collaborators, urging them to mobilize the public to violently storm police facilities and military barracks, anticipating a bloodbath that would instigate international condemnation of the Nigerian Government
“This acts are in clear violation of the Terrorism (Prevention) Act 2011 and other relevant laws.
”Since the commencement of investigations, Andrew Wynne has fled the country. He and one of his local coordinators, one Lucky Ehis Obiyan have accordingly been declared wanted and global hunting for them has commenced in connection with this investigation
“The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Kayode Adeoly Egbetokun, while condemning the activities of the group, has since activated the INTERPOL tools and other global policing networks to support ongoing domestic investigations aimed at locating and apprehending the suspects at large ”The IGP assures the general public that the Force will leave no stone unturned in dealing with and bringing to deserved justice, any individual or group threatening our national security and peace or providing any movement with the motive of truncating out democratic government through unconstitutional means
“We recognize and remain committed to protecting citizens’ constitutionally guaranteed fundamental and democratic rights to peaceful assembly and free expression
“However, we advise citizens to be wary of subversive elements who weaponize and commercialize protests for personal financial and ideological benefits.”
