The State Security Service (SSS) on Sunday confirmed that its operatives arrested the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress in the last elections, Mr Omoyele Sowore.
Sowore, who is also a social critic and publisher of Sahara Reporters, was violently arrested in Lagos at midnight on Saturday, and later moved to Abuja.
SSS spokesperson, Peter Afunanya, told reporters in Abuja on Sunday afternoon that he was detained because he called for a revolution in Nigeria,
Afunanya did not say whether or not the SSS has any credible intelligence that confirmed Sowore has the capacity to execute a takeover of government in Nigeria.
He, however, said the secret police was “aware” that Sowore had been in touch with foreign actors to destabilise Nigeria.
His comments marked the first time the SSS will brief Nigerians since Sowore was arrested.
The police have already deemed the planned protest an act of terrorism and threatened a clampdown on participants.
Sowore and other organisers of ‘RevolutionNow’ movement have condemned federal authorities for lying against them that the protest, scheduled to begin on August 5, would be violent.
They have vowed to carry on with the demonstration across 21 Nigerian cities despite the arrest of its leader.
The SSS declined to say where Sowore was being kept and when he would be arraigned in court.
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.
Tope Akinyode, one of Sowore’s lawyers, 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.
Premium Times/CableNews
