- says Buhari’s permission unnecessary to arrest Sowore
Millions of Nigerians are not bothered about the rearrest of human rights crusader and Sahara Reporters publisher, Mr. Omoyele Sowore, at the Federal High Court in Abuja last Friday, according to the Presidency.
Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, said this during a Channels Television’s programme,
Sunrise Daily, on Monday.
He was asked to react to the outrage that greeted Sowore’s violent rearrest.
Adesina insisted that the Presidency stands by the claim of the Directorate of State Security that the video circulating did not reflect what actually transpired in court.
He added: “I don’t particularly agree with you when you say a lot of Nigerians (are not happy), you know that all this noise has been coming from less than 100,000 Nigerians. And the noise will be so loud that you think it is the whole country.
It is a country of 198 million people. When just 100,000 are making noise in the social and traditional media, you would think the whole country is in an uproar. There are millions and millions of people who are not bothered.
There are millions of people who know what the issues are. So, you cannot just seek the opinion of a local minority and then conclude that the country is in an uproar.”
Meanwhile, the Presidency has declared that the DSS does not need the President Buhari’s permission to arrest persons of interest like the detained activist.
It said this is in a statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President, Garba Shehu, noting that the DSS does not need the permission of the Presidency in all cases to carry out its essential responsibilities as laid down in the Nigerian Constitution – which is the foundation for the restoration of democracy in the country in 1999.
It said that it should not surprise anyone who has followed Sowore’s actions and words that the journalist cum activist is a person of interest to the DSS.
According to the statement, Sowore called for a revolution to overthrow the democratically elected government of Nigeria.
It said: “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.
He founded an organisation, Revolution Now, to launch, in their own words, “Days of Rage”, with the publicised purpose of fomenting mass civil unrest and the elected administration’s overthrow.”
It argued that no government will allow anybody to openly call for destabilisation in the country and do nothing; stressing that 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,” it added.
It noted that 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 which it claims Sowore was advocating.
It said “To believe in and desire an armed revolution is not normal amongst ‘human rights activists’, as Sowore has been incorrectly described.
“Again, it is no surprise that he should be a person of interest to the DSS.
“Nigeria is already dealing with an insurgency that has left millions of people displaced and desperate in the northeastern region of our country.
“The Boko Haram militants, who are behind the violence, also fancy themselves to be fighting for some sort of revolution.
“Nigerians do not need another spate of lawlessness and loss of lives all in the name of ‘revolution’, especially not one that is orchestrated by a man who makes his home in faraway New York – and who can easily disappear and leave behind whatever instability he intends to cause, to wit, Nnamdi Kanu.”
It said that Sowore’s case is a matter for the DSS, acting under its powers.
Channels TV
