The Borno State Police Command has arrested and charged five men accused of printing and wearing T-shirts bearing the inscription “Tinubu Must Go” in Maiduguri, according to a First Information Report (FIR) obtained by SaharaReporters.
The men were identified as 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, was issued by the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Maiduguri, and addressed to the Chief Magistrate Court in Maiduguri.
The police accused the five men of criminal conspiracy, inciting disturbance, disturbance of public peace and thuggery.
According to the FIR, the suspects allegedly conspired to print T-shirts bearing the inscription “Tinubu Must Go” with the intention of causing a breach of public peace within the West End Roundabout community in Maiduguri.
The police said the alleged offences were contrary to Sections 60, 78, 79 and 392 of the Borno State Penal Code.
The FIR stated that on September 25, 2026, at about 11am, the five men allegedly “conspired together” to print the T-shirts with the inscription “Tinubu Must Go”, which the police claimed was intended to cause a breach of public peace within the West End Roundabout community.
The officer in charge of the case subsequently directed that the suspects be charged before a court.
A source who spoke to SaharaReporters alleged that the arrests followed a directive from Borno State Governor, Prof. Babagana Umara Zulum, to the state Commissioner of Police, CP Naziru Abdulmajid, to arrest the men over the T-shirts.
The allegation of a directive from the governor was made by the source and was not independently established in the report.
The source further alleged that the five men were taken to court and subsequently remanded in a correctional facility.
However, the specific court proceedings and the terms of the remand order could not immediately be established.
The arrests come amid increased political activity ahead of Nigeria’s 2027 general elections, with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu seeking another term in office.
Governor Zulum recently returned from a trip to the United States and Canada and subsequently launched an All Progressives Congress (APC) mobilisation campaign in Borno in support of President Tinubu and other party candidates.
The “Tinubu Must Go” slogan has featured in protests and political activities in Nigeria in recent months. Fact-checking organisations have also documented instances where old footage of protests carrying the slogan was recirculated online as recent events.
In the Borno case, however, the police FIR specifically identifies the printing of T-shirts bearing the slogan as the conduct underlying the charges and alleges that the activity was intended to cause a breach of public peace.
The case is now before the court, where the allegations against the five men are subject to judicial determination.