#YamFestival: ‘Buhari’ Booed In London, Called “Ole, Ole, Thief, Thief”

by Yusuf Akinpelu

Over a dozen people gathered at the Abuja House in London to boo a Nigerian official they believed to be President Muhammadu Buhari.

The protesters gathered in front of the building to boo the official who was driven in a black painted car with a Nigerian diplomatic plate number (FGN1).

The videos of the protest were published Thursday night by a Twitter user, Revolutionary Tunde, using the Twitter handle @IsaacOgunmoyele.

Many of the protesters carried placards calling for freedom for the detained publisher of Sahara Reporters, Omoyele Sowore. Others condemned the treatment of the leader of the Shiite movement in Nigeria, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky.

“Buhari, Stop Poisoning Sheikh Zakzaky,” one of the placards read.

“Omoyele Sowore is not a criminal,” another placard read.

Mr Buhari is currently in London for what the presidency described as a private visit.

He has spent over a week in the UK during which he has continued to perform the functions of the Nigerian president including signing a bill into law.

It is not clear if the president was in the vehicle or inside the building while the protest and the boos went on. The Nigerian embassy in the UK is yet to issue a statement on the matter.

The protesters shouted ‘ole, ole, ole…’ meaning ‘thief, thief, thief….’ while mentioning the name of the Nigerian president.

They also condemned the disrespect for the courts by the Nigerian government.

The two prominent names whose release the protesters called for are being detained by the State Security Service in Abuja.

Mr Sowore is being held despite meeting his bail conditions set by a judge. He was arrested for calling for a revolution against bad governance. The state charged him with treasonable felony and money laundering, charges he denied.

Mr El-Zakzaky has been detained since December 2015 when soldiers massacred over 300 Shiite members. The soldiers accused them of blocking a road being used by the chief of army staff, Tukur Buratai.

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Mr El-Zakzaky and his wife, Zeenah, were first held for over a year without trial and despite a court order that they should be released and compensated.

He was later charged for the death of a soldier during the December 2015 incident.