The call for the immediate release of the convener of the
#RevolutionNow, Omoyele Sowore has continued to gather momentum.
Twenty-four eminent personalities which include academia, media, law
from both home and abroad have jointly signed a press statement,
calling on the authorities in Nigeria to, without further delay,
release detained activists, Omoyele Sowore and Olawale Bakare.
Sowore, a former presidential candidate and founder of the online news
and investigative medium, Sahara Reporters, has been, along with his
colleague Olawale, held by the Federal Government since his arrest at
his Lagos home on August 3.
On September 30, the duo were arraigned before an Abuja Federal High
Court on charges of “treason, money laundering, and harassing the
president”.
Though, they were granted bail with stiff conditions on October 4,
they are yet to be released by the Department of State Services (DSS)
which has claimed it could not find someone to release them to, weeks
after meeting the bail conditions.
The eminent group stated in the statement that “The continued
detention of both human rights advocates is an egregious injustice and
a travesty of the rule of law. The charges that the Federal Government
has brought against Messrs. Sowore and Bakare are totally bogus and
laughable. Evidently, both have been targeted by the Buhari
administration for their brave and unstinting activism in the cause of
political freedom and economic prosperity for all Nigerians.
“In the specific case of Mr. Sowore, it would seem reasonable to
surmise that his continued detention is not unrelated to the vigorous
and unsparing criticism of the current administration and the state of
affairs in Nigeria by his online newspaper, Sahara Reporters.
“Sowore’s call for a “revolution” in Nigeria is not unprecedented.
Many who have expressed patriotic and visionary objections to the
fundamental crises of the Nigerian state have made similar calls in
the past. President Muhammadu Buhari did so when he felt that
elections were rigged against him. He even cited the example of the
“Egyptian revolution.” Before he became president, Buhari relentlessly
inveighed against three successive presidents, even as he repeatedly
lost electoral contests against his predecessors. He was neither
harassed nor detained.
“Indeed, today, President Buhari is a beneficiary of the gallant
efforts of the likes of Sowore, over almost two decades, to return
Nigeria to democratic rule and expand the space for democratic life.
“Therefore, this insidious and lawless move by the Buhari
administration runs against the basic ethos of democracy, including
freedom of speech and freedom of assembly.”
They urge Nigerians from all walks of life and those committed to
human liberty all over the world to speak up against this blatant
perversion of justice.
“We call on the National Assembly, civil society organizations, and
international human rights and political advocacy organizations to put
pressure on the Federal Government to release Messrs. Omoyele Sowore
and Olawale Bakare immediately.
“The continued detention of these two Nigerians – and indeed others
who have been granted bail by the courts – makes a mockery of our
hard-won democratic freedoms.”
