On the Arrest of KY Tebo in Yobe State for Political Criticism -By Ahmad Isah Sabo

Following my absence (or inactivity) on social media platforms, especially Facebook, I eventually logged in to encounter prodding posts on a campaign with the hashtag— #FreeKYTebo. It didn’t hit me as a surprise that Khalid Yusuf Tebo has been arrested in Yobe State, considering the facts that over centuries, activists and critics were and are being jailed, abducted or even killed by some corrupt minds in ‘government’, activism cost some activists their lives, the likes of Martin Lurther King Jr. and El-Hajj Malik El-Shabaaz (Malcom X). Khaleed knows well the path he has taken— activism/criticism and its consequences, both negative and positive, but he took the risk anyway for the belief he would achieve the latter.

To quote Martin Lurther King Jr., “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter!”. Khalid is my childhood friend and I know him to be true believer of justice and equality. It will be unjust for him to be arrested on the basis of his criticism towards government (unless for reasons unknown). He has every right socially, politically and constitutionally as citizen of Nigeria to exercise his “freedom of press/speech”.

If Tebo is arrested by Yobe State on the said assumption, then this government is no different with the government of 1984 by George Orwell where freedom is considered slavery, peace as war and ignorance as strength! A government which prohibits writing of truth and terms the act as “thought crime”. A government that manipulates truth to glorification of ‘Big Brother’! If Tebo is detained for writing criticism, then our ‘LEADER’ is ‘BIG BROTHER’ and the detainers are ‘THOUGHT POLICE’ who arrest people for writing the truth. What KY Tebo mostly writes, politics apart, is nothing but a naked truth. For that, he should not be arrested. Tebo deserves justice!