In view of the announcement of a planned rally purported by the former presidential candidate and human rights activist, Omoyele Sowore and the former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar to press for the release of the detained leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, a group under the auspices of the Northern Nigeria Youth Leadership Forum (NNYLF) has cautioned those planning to be part of that exercise to keep-off to avoid any problem.
Sowore has been mobilizing notable Nigerians and members of the general public to turn out en mass on October 20 for a march to the Presidential Villa to compel President Bola Tinubu to free Kanu who has been in detention since his rendition from Kenya in 2021.
While addressing Journalists on Wednesday, 15 October, 2025, in Abuja, President of the NNYLF, Murtala Mohammed Gamji disclosed that his group has already mobilized over 60 million youths from Northern Nigeria to rally for three days calling on President Tinubu to stand for reelection in 2027.
Gamji said the clarion call on the President is due to his good works which he claimed have started yielding the needed dividends of democracy.
Gamji further said that while he was not against the release of Kanu, but claimed that both Sowore and Atiku were not sincere but are just desperate politicians who want to use the planned march for their political benefits.
He said: “Sowore has nothing in Nigeria, not even a house. He stays in the hotel and his children are all based abroad in America with his wife. Atiku wants to realize his selfish goal with the blood of Nigerian youths. His children are not in the country.
Desperate politicians like the former Vice President and Sowore, we are saying no to them. We have a lot of problems in Nigeria and we are saying no to them.
“And the greatest mistake they have done is that the October 20 they have fixed is the same day about 63 million young vibrant intellectual youths of Northern Nigeria are coming to plead to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to continue with his good works. We will be on the streets of Abuja for three days, from October 20 to 23.
“And when we talk about Renewed Hope of President Tinubu, we are not talking about political parties, whether you support the President of not, this is the hope of the entire Nigerian youths because of the Student loan he has given to us.
“We are calling on all desperate politicians in Nigeria to allow this pilot who has take off successfully to land successfully. We the leadership of the Northern Nigeria Youth Forum to derail this pilot.
“I am not against his release, but the likes of Sowore and Atiku are only trying to play politics with it. They are not the right people to stage any protest. They are not true democrats, if they are real, they should call a press conference and speak to that and the president who his a true democrat will listen to them,” he said.
