Amnesty International has condemned the detention of three Borno youths, Salihu Yahaya, Haruna Mohammed, and Muhammed Mallum by the police allegedly over a Facebook post on Shani Local Government Council’s receipt of about N3.11 billion from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) between January and June 2026.

In a Saturday statement, Amnesty said that although the three youths have been released, “their arrest, in the first place, was unlawful.”

The human rights organisation accused the Borno State Government and the Chairman of Shani Local Government Council, Hassan Abdu Labaki, of engaging in “a desperate attempt to undermine accountability.”

According to Amnesty, the three youths were subjected to “bizarre rounds of questioning while in detention, solely for sharing information quoted from authoritative sources about funds received in the name of their area council.”

“Clearly Borno state government is out to use the police to intimidate and harass youths seeking accountability. Asking a local government chairman to account for billions received on behalf of the people is not a crime,” the group said.

Amnesty stated that the youths “did not commit any crime, and their arrest shows clear abuse of power,” adding that “it is perfectly within their right to receive and share information or criticize any government official — no matter his position or status.”

The organisation called on the Nigerian Police Force to “always uphold the due process of law and not become a tool in the hands of politicians by carrying out arbitrary arrest, detention, and other undue restrictions of the rights of individuals to the legitimate exercise of their freedom of expression and opinion.”

Amnesty also urged the Borno State Government to “always uphold and respect human rights instead of consistently targeting young men for exercising their fundamental human rights.”

The group cited international human rights law, stating that “the mere fact that a social media post is considered unpalatable by a local government chairman or any public figure is not sufficient to justify arbitrary detention by the police.” (The Sun)