The Department of State Services (DSS) has said it arrested ex-presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, because he threatened the public peace and safety with his planned protest.
On Saturday, agents of the service invaded Sowore’s residence and took him into custody. Before his arrest, he was promoting protest tagged ‘#RevolutionNow’.
Speaking with journalists on Sunday, DSS spokesman, Peter Afunaya, said Sowore crossed the red-line by calling for a revolution.
He said the secret police would not ”just sit idly and watch any individual, group and their cohorts rise and threaten the peace, unity, and constitutionalism of the country”.
“Though there is apprehension and anxiety among citizens already, we wish to assure friends of Nigeria, and other law-abiding citizens, that there will be no revolution of any kind come Monday, August 5, 2019,” he said.
“A democratically elected government is in charge, and we cannot allow any person or group to foment chaos or fan the ember of revolution.”
Some Nigerians have spoken against the arrest of Sowore. In a statement, Wole Soyinka described the action of the DSS as a breach of the fundamental rights of the ex-presidential candidate.
”Deployment of alarmist expressions such as ‘treason’, ‘anarchist’, ‘public incitement’, etc by security forces have become so predictable and banal that they have become meaningless. Beyond the word ‘revolution, another much mis-used and misunderstood word, nothing that Sowore has uttered, written, or advocated suggests that he is embarking on, or urging the public to engage in a forceful overthrow of government. Nothing that he said to me in private engagement ever remotely approached an intent to destabilise governance or bypass the normal democratic means of changing a government,” he said.
…Sahara Reporters publisher moved to Abuja
The Department of State Services (DSS) has moved Omoyele Sowore, human rights campaigner, from its facility in Lagos to Abuja.
Sources at the DSS said Sowore, who has been held incommunicado since Saturday, is currently being detained in Abuja.
Although the secret police is yet to make any comment on his arrest, it is believed to be in connection with the nationwide protest that he was organising.
When online medium, The Cable reached spokesman of the DSS, Peter Afunaya, over the arrest of the activist on Sunday, he said: “Come to my office at 1:00pm… I can talk to you then.”
Sowore, convener of “#RevolutionNow: Days of Rage” protest, was picked up in the early hours of Saturday and taken to the Lagos head office of the secret police on CMD Road, Magodo, Ikosi, Ketu.
One of Sowore’s lawyers, Tope Akinyode, had said he visited the head office of the command in Lagos but was denied access to the activist.
“As Lawyer to Mr. Omoyele Sowore, Publisher of Sahara Reporters, I visited the DSS office at CMD Road, Ketu, Lagos together with other notable Nigerians. Mr. Sowore had been arrested in a ‘gestapo’ manner in the early hours of today,” he had said in a statement.
“When we got to the DSS office, we were denied entrance into the Police Building arrogantly. As much as I persuaded them that the ‘accused’ has lawful right of access to his Lawyer as enshrined under Section 35 (2) of the 1999 Constitution, my advice fell on the deaf ears of the Police Officers who claimed that their boss wasn’t around and I have to wait till Monday (working day) before I could be let in.
The Coalition for Revolution, campaigners of the #RevolutionNow, has vowed to go on with the protest despite the arrest of the convener of the movement.
There has been serious pressure on the secret police to release Sowore.
Presidency breaks silence on protest, sends message to sponsors
President Muhammadu Buhari has urged sponsors of Global Coalition for Security and Democracy in Nigeria, which planned a “Revolution Now” protest for Monday, to identify themselves and lead the campaign or lose the right to call themselves leaders.
This is coming after Omoyele Sowore, the convener of #RevolutionNow Protests, was picked up at his apartment in the early hours of Saturday.
Reacting, Buhari in a statement issued in Abuja yesterday, by Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President (Media & Publicity), called on all those who seek to use and hide behind everyday citizens to attain power through undemocratic and violent means, which has been alluded, to come out clearly and be identified.
He said they should lead their march in person, stressing that only then will they begin to have the right to call themselves leaders before the people of Nigeria.
The statement reads, “The President and his administration respect and uphold the right of every Nigerian to peaceful protest and civil campaign – whether to raise awareness on issues, and even oppose the government, noting that it is the inalienable right of all citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to do so.
“There is, however, a difference between peaceful call to protest and incitement for a revolution.
“The organisation championing this planned action is not fronted by any serious public faces. We call on the sponsors and organisers to have the decency to come forward and make their identity known – out of respect to all Nigerians – so that Nigerians can be fully aware in whose name this “revolution” is being proposed and who the beneficiaries may be.
“Less than six months ago, Nigeria held simultaneous presidential and parliamentary elections. Both contests were won resoundingly by President Muhammadu Buhari and his All-Progressives Congress party. The campaign was observed, and results were confirmed by international election monitoring groups and observers. The result was even contested by the losing presidential candidate and his party in Court.
“The ballot box is the only constitutional means of changing government and a president in Nigeria. The days of coups and revolutions are over.
“Those making the “revolution” call hide behind the veil of social media modernity. But without revealing the identity of their sponsors this shadowy campaign is no better, and no more democratic, than the days of old.”
Nigeria back to Abacha days – Soyinka
The Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka has described the arrest of the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, as a replay of the style deployed by late dictator and head of state, Sani Abacha.
Sowore, who has been spearheading calls for a “protest against bad governance”, was arrested by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) at his Lagos residence in the early hours of Saturday.
But in a statement he issued yesterday, Soyinka said Sowore did nothing to suggest he is “urging the public to engage in a forceful overthrow of government.”
He described the activist’s arrest as a “travesty” and violation of the fundamental rights of citizens to congregate and make public their concerns.
“Beyond the word ‘revolution, another much mis-used and misunderstood word, nothing that Sowore has uttered, written, or advocated suggests that he is embarking on, or urging the public to engage in a forceful overthrow of government,” the foremost playwright said in the statement sent to newsmen.
“I therefore find the reasons given by the Inspector-General, for the arrest and detention of this young ex-presidential candidate totally contrived and untenable, unsupported by any shred of evidence.
“This is all so sadly déjà vu. How often must we go through this wearisome cycle? We underwent identical cynical contrivances under the late, unlamented Sani Abacha, when he sent storm-troopers to disrupt a planning session for a similar across-nation march at Tai Solarin School, Ikenne.
“The same pattern Pavlovian conduct manifested itself under yet another supposed democratic ruler who personally declared that the gathering of civilians to deliberate on, and propose a constitution for the nation was ‘high treason’. And yet again, even a faceless cabal under yet another civilian regime refused to be left out of the insensate play of power.”
Soyinka said protests are democratic ways of drawing government’s attention to ills and mobilising the public towards a proactive consciousness of their condition.
He said the arrests, incarceration and threats to civilians involved in such cause are “ultimately counter-productive.”
“Freedom is not so glibly qualified. It cannot be doled out like slops of charity from soup kitchens,” he said, adding: “Let the Police stick to their task of protecting and managing protests, not attempt to place their own meaning and declaration of intent on bogey words like – revolution!”
Buhari called for electoral revolution?
Omoyele Sowore, the convener of #RevolutionNow, was arrested by the Department of State Services (DSS) for planning civil disobedience — once commended by Buhari.
The police has described the planned civil disobedience as treason and terrorism. In Buhari’s defence, his supporters claim that Buhari only called for electoral revolution.
He asked Nigerians to “draw the right lessons from the 18-day revolution which saw Hosni Mubarak quitting office after 30 years; and do the needful to effect a regime change in Nigeria at the April polls”.
Since winning elections in 2015, Buhari has asked Nigerians to stop addressing him as a general but simply as president — with his handlers stating he has become a reformed democrat.
Flashback: In 2011, Buhari called for revolution
In 2011, General Muhammadu Buhari, the candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), called for a revolution in Nigeria — albeit through the ballot.
Via a statement by Yinka Odumakin, his spokesman at the time who has now turned to one of his fiercest critics, Buhari asked Nigerians to make exceptional sacrifices to assert their collective will in the country.
“The Egyptian pro-democracy campaigners defied all odds to achieve their set goal of terminating the 30-year old grip on power by Mubarak. Their tenacity has again confirmed the truism that no force on earth can stop a people determined,” he said.
This was not the first time the president called for mass action — he did the same in 2003, after losing the presidential election to incumbent Olusegun Obasanjo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
In June 2003, supporters of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and Buhari, began a mass protest against the outcome of the April 19, 2003 presidential election in Abuja.
The protesters were reported to have massed at the Court of Appeal, venue of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal to witness the proceeding.
They would later spill over to the streets where they chanted anti-government slogans against the Olusegun Obasanjo government.
A repeat in 2011?
In the same statement calling for a revolution in 2011, Buhari commended the Egyptian military for refusing to attack “the forces of change”.
“The military in Egypt showed exemplary conduct with the way they refused to be used to attack the forces of change,” Buhari was quoted to have said.
“They showed the whole world that there is a clear difference between the state and those who temporarily occupy political offices for a fixed tenure. This is a lesson for our security agents who have been used to subvert the will of the people at elections in recent past.
“The time has come for our own security forces to demonstrate similar valour by putting national interest above that of individuals when there is a clash between the two.
“Unlike the Egyptians who went through self-denial for 18 unbroken days to achieve their aspiration for leadership change, Nigerians just have to take their voter cards, vote on each election day and ensure that their votes count and are properly counted.”It is time to demonstrate people’s power to free our country from those who have held it hostage for the last 12 years and are threatening to keep it so for 60 years.”
… commends Egypt’s revolutionaries
The CPC flagbearer commended the revolutionaries in Egypt, asking Nigerians to emulate them and support themselves regardless of religious divides.
“More importantly Nigerians have to learn from the way faiths integrated to achieve national aspiration. Christians formed rings round Muslims as they observed their Jumat prayers during the demonstrations,” Buhari said.
“For us as a people, we need to also move from balance of hate to balance of faith as the Egyptians practically demonstrated on the field of battle for change.
“Rather than allow ourselves to be divided by our faiths, we must emphasise what binds us together and areas where the shoe pinches us collectively as people with common humanity. With all sense of modesty, this is part of what the Buhari-Bakare candidacy represents.”
