Omoyele, publisher of the online medium, Sahara Reporters, who was also the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress in the February 2019 General Election, was arrested by operatives of the Department of State Services at his home on Saturday.
The politician said the action stands condemned, noting that, “Freedom of speech is not only constitutionally guaranteed, it is the substructure of our democracy.”
Atiku, also the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the same election, stated his view via his verified Twitter handle @atiku on Saturday.
See the tweet:
Critics of the human rights activist’s arrest believe that the DSS action was predicated on his planned nationwide protests.
Sowore had expressed the intention to spearhead nationwide protests against the Federal Government, tagged ‘#RevolutionNow Days of Rage,’ scheduled for Monday, August 5, 2019.
Human rights activist, Dr Joe Okei-Odumakin, and the National Coordinator of Democracy Vanguard, Adeola Soetan, have also condemned the arrest of Omoyele Sowore by men of the Department of State Services in the early hours of Saturday.
Sowore was arrested for leading the #RevolutionNow protest to challenge the government to make Nigeria a better place for the masses.
Okei-Odumakin, reacting to the arrest of Sowore, condemned the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration for its continuous repression of critics of its government.
Odumakin said that the arrest of Sowore showed “a fledging culture of intolerance that may be gripping the country.
“Except he has committed any other offence that we are not aware of, calling a protest cannot be a crime under any law to warrant anticipatory arrest as has been done.”
She urged the government to immediately order the DSS to release Sowore who she described as a prisoner of conscience for every minute he is held.
Meanwhile, former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the ruling All Progressives Congress, Timi Frank, on Saturday condemned the arrest of Omoyele Sowere over the planned #RevolutionNow nationwide protest.
He urged all who have resolved to be part of the protest not to lose focus based on the arrest.
Frank made his position known in a statement made available to journalists in Abuja.
He said Nigeria under President Muhamadu Muhamadu Buhari needed such massive protest now more than ever before.
He attributed the need for the protest to killings, kidnapping, banditry, hunger, unemployment and economic disaster among other social ills bedevilling the country.
While condemning Sowore’s arrest, Frank said the protest is not about the convener but about the survival of Nigeria as a country.
He, however, called on Tunde Bakare, Wole Soyinka, Femi Falana, Olisa Agbakoba and others who he described as “Fathers of protesters” to support Sowere’s idea if they are not also supporting the evil currently ongoing in the country.
Frank said it was the constitutional right of citizens to protest when they are dissatisfied with anything in a democratic government.
He said all over the world, citizens are expressing their disaffections without being arrested by their governments.
He reminded Buhari of how he led a protest in 2003 when he was in the All Nigeria Peoples Party and 2014 before he emerged Nigeria’s President.
Frank said, “If the arrest is not resisted now, it will become the order of the day to the extent that even 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. Buhari should know that this is a 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.
Many Nigerians have also taken to the social media to condemn the arrest ,they called on the DSS to release him immediatly and unconditionally
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