Police detain a Nigerian civil rights leader protesting

Nigerian civil rights leader detained

ABUJA, Nigeria — Police have detained a Nigerian rights leader who started a small protest near the hotel in Abuja where former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is staying.

Police officer Wilson Inalegwu said Sunday that Shehu Sani, president of the Civil Rights Congress in Nigeria, was detained because he was too close to the road that Blair would travel on.

Blair will meet with former U.S. President George W. Bush, Nigeria’s acting President Goodluck Jonathan and former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice late Sunday in Abuja at an awards banquet.

Sani and nearly 35 others say they were protesting the Western leaders’ roles in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

An Associated Press reporter saw police force Shani into the back of a pickup truck. Inalegwu said Shani was being taken to police headquarters.