The Chairman, Board of Trustees (BOT) and the National Coordinator of the Coalition of Northern Groups, Nastura Ashir Shariff and Balarabe Rufai, have been arrested.
Speaking with Daily Trust, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, spokesman of the group, said both officials were arrested after the Department of State Services (DSS) director in the state, warned CNG against going ahead with a press briefing scheduled for NAF Club, Kaduna.
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Suleiman said since their arrest, there has been no communication with them and the group has been unable to trace where they were taken to.
“Both their phone lines have been unreachable for the past two hours but the Director of the Department of State Services (DSS) in Kaduna had called us earlier today and tried to threaten us against going ahead with the briefing. We stood our ground and insisted on our right to freedom of association and expression.
“A few minutes afterwards, we were called from the NAF Club and informed that they were ordered from above to refuse us the use of the hall. We then went to tell the pressmen who were already gathered at the venue and told them of the development and asked them to disperse because we had suspended the briefing.
“As we left the NAF Club and drove along a road adjacent to Nagogo road, a hooded Peugeot car blocked the lead car which was conveying the two officials and ordered them into the Peugeot and sped off,” he said.
Daily Trust reports that some suspected hoodlums had on December 14, 2020, invaded the venue of a meeting organised by the Coalition of Northern groups at Arewa House, Kaduna.
Earlier in June, Nastura Sheriff was arrested in Katsina state where he led a protest against killings by bandits across Northern Nigeria.
