Arrest Of Ms Abbiusi An Attempt To Clamp Down On Us- New Force

Political movement New Force believes the government is only leveraging on the immigration status of Shalimar Abbiusi, one of its spokespersons, to clamp down on its growing influence in the country.

The Belgian who was arraigned in Court on Thursday for allegedly forging documents she used in securing a residential status was invited and later detained by the National Investigations Bureau (NIB) on December 4. 2023.

According to a statement issued by the New Force, the NIB during the last four days tried to squeeze information about the Force out of their suspect and in the process infringed on some of her fundamental rights.

“As we have now found out, for the past 4 days, Ms Abbiusi has been kept continuously in custody by the officers of the National Investigations Bureau, formerly the BNI. During these 4 days, the security officials have continuously questioned Ms Abbiusi about the New Force; wanting to know which people are behind it and if the people want to run for President.

“Further, over this period, she has been denied access to legal representation subjected to an unlawful search of her premises, and held beyond the legal 48-hour limit without formal charges. Further, despite the objections of Ms Abbiusi’s lawyers, her apartment was broken into without a warrant and the place ransacked. Yet not a single element of incriminating evidence was found against her.”

The Movement thus deems the development a clamp down while deploring the 30-year-old’s immigration status to their advantage.

“Ms Abbiusi’s arrest clearly marks an attempt by the Government to abuse our laws and its power in order to persecute political opponents. We deplore the attempts to use Ms Abbiusi’s immigration status to blackmail her. We consider that no person should be discriminated against on account of their political opinions or country of origin, as guaranteed by our Constitution. These actions are morally and legally wrong and undermine faith in our democracy as well as the independence and fairness of our political institutions.”

The Belgian has, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges levelled against her.

New Force, a new political movement in the country, was announced with giant billboards across the country with a masked man.

Though the objective and make-up of the movement is not yet known, it has, on its social media page- X- and its billboards promised “leadership for the next generation”.

With growing speculation and interest in the face behind the mask, the New Force has decided to unveil the mask soon.

In a statement later in November it said, “In light of this growing keen interest in what we have coming next, we would like to inform the public that we will in the shortest possible time by unveiling the Mask and communicating the rich and carefully thought-through policy objectives and goals.”