Amnesty International strongly condemns the arrest of social media influencer Ghali Isma’il, over a video on the ‘health’ of President Bola Tinubu. The arrest by the Department of State Security (DSS) is a clear demonstration of abuse of power.
That the DSS flagrantly arrested Ghali Isma’il without thoroughly investigating veracity and the authenticity of the video — shows utter incompetence and despration to gag young Nigerians and restrict their use of social media to examine the society and to ask critical questions.
Authorities must immediately and unconditionally release Isma’il Ghali and drop bizarre attempts to put him through a sham trial that will be based on bogus charges.
Nigerian authorities must respect, protect, promote, and fulfill the right of everyone to freedom of expression. Such arrests are heavy-handed and endanger freedom of expression.
