Members of the Tinubu Must Go movement gathered in Kano State on Sunday October 11 2026 only to find police blocking entry to their paid private venue at The Avenue event centre and conference hall.
Abba Hikima a lawyer and one of the conveners said about ten mobile police vehicles were stationed outside in combat ready mode preventing access.
He spoke in a live video on his verified Facebook page while wearing a shirt and fez cap bearing the words Tinubu Must Go.
Hikima said the group came to exercise fundamental human rights to associate freely exchange ideas and educate themselves on the need to send away the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The movement describes itself as a non partisan platform focused on public enlightenment over economic policies that it says have caused hardship for citizens.
Hikima stated that the members had paid their own money for the private enclosed event centre as permitted by the constitution. He insisted they are not criminals not thugs and not hooligans and have committed no offence.
He added that this police presence is even more reason why Tinubu must go and called the president a tyrant. Hikima urged the Inspector General of Police Olatunji Rilwan Disu and the Kano State Commissioner of Police Ibrahim Adamu Bakori to start wearing Tinubu pictures on their uniforms because they are useless.
He said he had spoken by phone the previous day with Bakori who advised informing security about the meeting. Hikima replied that the gathering would be civil in an enclosed space with lawyers involved and that Nigerian law no longer requires police permission for such assemblies.
He pointed to sections 35 39 and 40 of the constitution covering personal liberty freedom of expression and freedom of association plus a Court of Appeal decision. One officer reportedly told him the police had no issue with the group itself but objected only to the insignia on their clothing which Hikima rejected as entirely political.
Northerners later took to the streets chanting Tinubu Must Go and waving branded flags to oppose re election in 2027. The group vowed that next time they would protest demonstrate and hit the ground. Reports indicated the owner of The Avenue event centre was arrested for allowing the facility to be used.
The African Democratic Congress through its Presidential Campaign Council director of media Kola Ologbondiyan called the police action shameful and unconstitutional and said you can stop a rally and arrest a venue owner but you cannot arrest hunger in the land. Amnesty International condemned the blockade by heavily armed officers as an unlawful and outrageous violation of rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of association.
Kano State Commissioner of Police Ibrahim Adamu Bakori defended the deployment saying the aim was to protect the organisers and residents of the state. He learned of the planned gathering through social media and contacted Hikima to seek more information. Bakori acknowledged the right to hold the meeting and noted that the law does not strictly require prior notice yet said notification would help arrange security for an expected crowd of about 700 people whose identities and accommodations were unknown.
He asked Hikima to postpone the programme and meet to discuss arrangements but received no further response after consultation with other members. Bakori rejected claims of political influence insisting the priority was maintaining peace and preventing any tension or offences. He noted that police had provided security for previous activities of the movement and referenced a recent incident in Sabon Gari where weapons were seized from people claiming political purposes. The Kano State Police Public Relations Officer CSP Abdullahi Haruna Kiyawa had not responded to inquiries about the armed operatives at the time of the reports.
