The government of Nigeria have finally reacted to the re-arrest of the former presidential aspirant Omoloye Sowore, the convener of the RevolutionNow.
Omoloye Sowore was arrested August 4th 2019 for the planned RevolutionNow protest which was termed as treason. Sowore was however re-arrested less than 24-hours after he was released.
Reacting to this, the presidency of Nigeria through the presidential spokesman Garba shehu in a statement justified the actions of officials of the department of Security service (DSS) adding that the DSS operatives are only doing their job
Statement reads :
“The presidency notes some of the insinuations in the media about the arrest by the Department of State Services (DSS) of the agitator, Omoyele Sowore.
“The DSS does not necessarily need the permission of the presidency in all cases to carry out its essential responsibilities that are laid down in the Nigerian Constitution – which was the foundation for the restoration of democracy in our country in 1999.
“However, it should not surprise anyone who has followed his actions and words that Sowore is a person of interest to the DSS.
“Sowore called for a revolution to overthrow the democratically elected government of Nigeria. He did so on television, and from a privileged position as the owner of a widely-read digital newspaper run from the United States of America.”
“Mr. Sowore is no ordinary citizen expressing his views freely on social media and the internet. He was a presidential candidate himself, who ran – and lost – as the flag bearer of the African Action Congress (AAC) in the February 23 general elections.
Nigeria’s democracy was a long time in the making, and was achieved after decades of often harsh, military-led overthrows of government: the kind of situation Sowore was advocating.
To believe in and desire armed revolution is not normal amongst ‘human rights activists’, as Sowore has been incorrectly described,”
