Protest Not Treason: Drew Povey Denies Inciting Insurrection

A British national, Drew Povey, who was accused of inciting insurrection against President Bola Tinubu’s government, has denied the allegations and urged the Nigerian government not to treat protests as treason.

Povey, who was also identified as Andrew Wynne, made the statement in response to charges of building a network of sleeper cells to topple the government and plunge the nation into chaos.

His bookshop, located at the Abuja headquarters of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), was earlier raided and sealed.

The Briton was accused of enabling #EndBadGovernance protesters with intent to destabilize Nigeria.

In a statement, he emphasized that “protest is not treason” and called for the release of detainees.

Drew Povey highlighted the government’s repression of protests, resulting in alleged murders, arrests, and detention of thousands.

He specifically mentioned the case of Eleojo Opaluwa, a former colleague of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) President Joe Ajaero, who has been detained for over four weeks without tangible evidence.

The 10 detainees face charges including treason, mutiny, and levying war against the state, despite what Povey described as flimsy evidence.

The Briton urged the trade union movement to protect the detainees and criticized the government’s human rights violations.

Povey also denied claims that he had left Nigeria for Russia and assumed a Russian-sounding name, stating that these allegations were false.

He expressed concern for his employee, Yomi, who was arrested, beaten, and tortured for designing flyers for the protests.