The former vice president, Mr. Atiku Abubakar, has described the arrest of the candidate of African Action Congress (AAC) in the February 23 presidential election, Mr. Omoyele Sowore, as kidnapping in disguise.
Sowore was arrested in Lagos by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) on Saturday
Sahara Reporters, owned by Sowore reports that: “Early on Saturday morning, human rights activist, Omoyele Sowore, was arrested by men of the DSS who invaded his apartment.
“Since then, information about his whereabouts has been sketchy.
“We know that the forceful arrest of Sowore took place between 1:15 am and 1:25 am (WAT) on Saturday.
“According to his associate, the knocks on his apartment door woke them up and alerted them to the presence of “heavily armed” DSS men. See Also
“The men numbering eight cordoned off the building and arrested the rights activist after a slight altercation in the gym.
“He was then driven towards CMD Road Shangisha, Ketu in Lagos which was his last known location.
“He has since been kept incommunicado.”
It was gathered that the AAC presidential candidate was arrested for creating and championing ‘#RevolutionNow’, a hash tag used to criticize President Muhammadu Buhari administration on the social media by his critics.
He had, in one of the tweets stated that “#RevolutionNow is for the oppressed to choose a date they desire for liberty, not subjected to the approval of the oppressor”.
Reacting to the arrest, Atiku who was the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the election tweeted: “Freedom of speech is not only constitutionally guaranteed, it is the substructure of our democracy. These kidnappings in the guise of arrests stands condemned. -AA’
Also reacting, the Coalition Against Corruption and Bad Governance (COCOBAG), called for the unconditional release of the politician cum journalist.
In a statement by its chairman, Mr. Toyin Rahman, the group said Nigerians have the right to protest against bad governance and poor policy implementation.
“It’s unbecoming of this government to be against all patriotic Nigerians calling for good governance and respect for the democratic and constitutional rights of Nigerians.
“The government should be reminded that no government can have legitimacy without support of citizens.
“CACOBAG wonders what offence Sowore could have committed by collaborating with genuine change seeking elements to call for a peaceful protest.
“Can we remind the government that the incumbent president once participated in a protest, as his legitimate right, aftermath 2007 general elections?
“What could have been responsible for repressive tendencies in a democracy? We say no to any form of repression.
“Nigerians are conscious of the fact that what we have presently in Nigeria is a civilian rule and not a democratic government.
“This is partially responsible why many Nigerians show no interest in electioneering process of the country. The percentage of Nigerians that participated or voted in the last general elections says it all.
“The government should order the immediate and unconditional release of Sowore NOW.
“If Comrade Sowore is not released today, CACOBAG calls for Mass protests to commence at dawn tomorrow as against Monday 5th January that it ought to commence. Civil Society leaders and practitioners should intensify efforts to mobilises mass of our people for civil disobedience should this government fail to comport itself with democratic norms.
“We all have a stake in the country, therefore, the government should not be impervious to respect of the rules of law and Constitutionalism. “Sowore should be freed unconditionally now.”
Similarly, the national legal adviser to AAC, Mr. Inibehe Effiong condemned his client’s arrest saying it is a panic response from a decayed regime that is so sacred of its own shadow.
“Buhari’s despotism is now in full force. Nigerians are now preoccupied with the shenanigans of a morally bankrupt, economically backward and politically inept administration.
“The SSS which is supposed to be actively involved in curtailing insecurity across Nigeria has been turned into a tool of intimidation for a corrupt, clueless and incompetent government. “Let it be known that this irresponsible and highly reckless action will not deter conscientious and enlightened Nigerians from fighting for a better country.
“The #RevolutionNow Movement has come to stay and no dictator can stop it.
“General Buhari lost election in 2003 and led a massive protest. He lost in 2007 and didn’t go to sleep. When he lost again in 2011, his supporters went on riot, killing people and burning public and private properties.
“Sowore, a respected activist of decades, called for nationwide protests tagged #RevolutionNow, Buharists are saying it’s because he lost election. Sickening. I have said it before, if we depend on Buhari and his supporters to safeguard our “democracy” we will wake up one day to realise that Nigeria is totally gone.”
Also commenting on the matter, the former deputy spokesman for the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Timi Frank, called on Nigerians, especially the “fathers of protesters” including Pastor Tunde Bakare, Prof. Wole Soyinka, Mr. Femi Falana, Mr. Olisa Agbakoba to rise and support Sowore’s ideals.
He said all over the world, citizens are expressing their disaffection without being arrested by their governments.
He recalled how President Muhammadu Buhari he led a protest in 2003 when he was in the defunct All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) and 2014 before the current administration came to power.
“If the arrest is not resisted now, it will become order of the day to the extent that even the labour unions and the media will no longer be free to air their views.
“Even the Abacha government did not do what this current government is doing.
“In Sudan, Hong Kong and other nations, citizens are protesting against their governments and nobody is arrested or intimidated.
“General Buhari should know that this is democracy and if it is hard for him to cope, he should step aside.
“This revolution is long overdue. It is not about the convener but about the unworkable system which has resulted in all these avoidable killings of innocent Nigerians and all manners of evil in the land.
“I therefore call on like minds, the media, the real comrades and the known fathers of protest like Olisa Agbakoba, Femi Falana, Tunde Bakare and others to act now or else their names will become history for keeping quiet in the face of evil.
“I also call on the international community, especially the American government to speak up because Sowere is also an America citizen fighting for the betterment of our society,” said Frank in a statement.
