The Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, AYCF, has demanded the immediate and unconditional release of Nastura Ashir Shariff, the Chairman, Board of Trustees for the Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) from police detention.
The youth leader was arrested by police in Katsina yesterday and was reportedly taken to the Force Headquarters in Abuja for leading the protest against the killings by bandits in Katsina, the home state of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The CNG had earlier expressed displeasure over the detention of its chairman, Board of Trustees, Nastura Ashir Shariff.
CNG alleged that Shariff is detained on allegations of insulting the Special Adviser to President Buhari on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina.
The Coalition also alleged that it was Adesina who first insulted and denigrated the person of a respected northern elder, Professor Anglo Abdullahi which provoked widespread outrage.
A terse media statement to DAILY POST on Wednesday signed by its National President, Alhaji Yerima Shettima, the AYCF said it “demands the unconditional release of Shariff based on Constitutional provision of the rights of citizens to peaceful protest.”
The group said “it was odd for a peaceful protester to be arrested by the police under a democratic system of governance,” adding that “even President Buhari once benefitted from peaceful street protests many years back and it was helpful to his democratic struggles.”
