The Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL) has taken a swipe at the Directorate of State Service (DSS) for re-arresting Omoyele Sowore and Adebayo Bakare, who have been standing trial for treasonable felony.
Sowore, Convener of Coalition for Revolution (CORE), organisers of #RevolutionNow nationwide protests for better Nigeria, who had been in detention since August 3, 2019, and his co-detainee, Bakare, were re-arrested inside the court premises on Friday, after their momentary release on Thursday.
Mr. Debo Adeniran, CACOL’s Executive Chairman, recalled that it was a moment of applause and commendation to the judiciary and the DSS when the leadership of the secret police acceded to the 24-hour ultimatum handed down to it by Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on Thursday.
He noted that Nigerians heaved a sigh of relief that the security outfit had finally convinced itself of the need to act within the dictates and commands of the 1999 constitution and other laws of the land, “only for us to learn of its commando-like re-arrest after physical and occasional assaults on the duo that involve guns and ammunition, rough handling, etc, within the court premises, contrary to the norms and practice in a democratic setting.”
Adeniran stated that from the video clip of the incident at the court on Friday, “had it not been for the timely and courteous intervention of some journalists and legal practitioners, including his lawyer, Barrister Femi Falana (SAN), who later cautioned on the implications of the DSS insistence to desecrate the known tenets and ethos of democratic practice, by forcefully getting hold and whisking the duo away from the court premises, one could not imagine the dimension of wanton violence and probable loss of lives that could have taken place, even in the full glare of national and international media.
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“Apparently, this is not the kind of compliments any responsible and worthy security agency should attract for itself and the country’s leadership even under a dictatorship.”
Adeniran added: “As a responsible civil society organisation, we reiterate our calls for the security apparati of the state to be more circumspect and mindful of democratic requirements under a civil government so as not to scare foreigners away thereby jeopardise our investment portfolio or precipitate breakdown of law and order in a way that the sovereignty and survival of the nation itself becomes threatened.
“Even if the DSS has any cause to file fresh or additional charges against the accused, either before same judge or other court of competent jurisdiction, this would have been done in cognisance of known procedures that would not precipitate contravention of law and order.
“We therefore call for immediate and unconditional release of same accused since nothing has shown them to be any cogent threat to the continued survival and peaceful coexistence of the Nigerian nation, while issues of perennial conflicts are objectively looked into for the nation to take its rightful place amongst comity of nations.”
