Amnesty International AI), on Monday, October 20, 2025, described the reported crackdown and arrests of some members of the #FreeNnamdiKano protesters as “a gross violation of human rights”.
This was as the human rights organisation urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led Federal Government to guarantee citizens’ rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and association without fear of intimidation or arbitrary arrest.
While condemning what it described as “police and other security agencies brutality” on the peaceful protesters in Abuja that were calling for the immediate release of the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, Amnesty International, demanded the immediate and unconditional release of all detained protesters.
It emphasized in a statement that every individual has the right to peaceful assembly and expression, as guaranteed by Nigeria’s Constitution and international human rights treaties, including the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Nigeria is a state party.
The international human rights organisation warned that any act aimed at suppressing peaceful demonstrations constitutes a violation of the law which clearly demonstrates an unacceptable level of intolerance toward dissent.
It tasked the Federal Government to ensure that security agencies respect and protect the right to peaceful protest while the government must show genuine commitment to upholding constitutional and international human rights obligations.
