One of the organisers, who is the General Secretary, United Action for Democracy and member of the Socialist Workers and Youth League, Mr Kunle Ajayi, vowed to go on with the mass action.
“#RevolutionNow: They think they can stop an idea whose time has come. You have plenty to arrest. We will show you all that our generation cannot continue with your state madness. We will hand over a better world to our children. The time to act is now!!!” Ajayi said via his Twitter handle, @AjayiWizeman on Saturday.
Ajayi’s post was accompanied with a picture showing five members of the protest group holding a banner with the inscription, “#RevolutionNow. Time to act is now!”
“This arrest is not surprising to us. We know that the Presidency has tried everything in their powers to discredit and dampen our struggle,” he said.
Ajayi earlier in a statement on Saturday spoke on behalf of the Lagos chapter of the AAC, calling for more mobilisation in defiance to the government.
He said, “The Lagos branch of the African Action Congress condemns Sowore’s arrest and (President Muhammadu) Buhari’s stubborn and cruel antidemocratic credentials.
“We believe that the #RevolutionNow will outlive all forces of repression, particularly the Buhari Presidency.
“We call on the Coalition for Revolution and other organisers to continue with the mobilisation. A failed government cannot use force to make the mass of people to accept its failure.”
Another group, the Coalition in Defence of Nigerian Democracy and Constitution, vowed that the mass action planned to commence on Monday would go on as planned despite Sowore’s arrest.
In a report by Sahara Reporters, the group’s convener, Mr Ariyo-Dare Atoye, described the #RevolutionNow protests as civil advocacy and democratic action convened to challenge “the ravenous revolution of the ruling elite that have for decades put our nation and the common man in bondage.”
Atoye said, “We make bold to say that since General Buhari in opposition fully exercised his rights to criticise previous governments and lead a protest in the country, his government cannot under any pretension stop us from holding his administration to account for bad governance. This is just the beginning.”
Sowore, who is the leader of the #RevolutionNow movement, had declared August 5 as the commencement of a revolutionary protest tagged, “Days of Rage,” across the country to demand a better Nigeria.
He said the protest would be sustained until the country was put on the right path, saying the government’s action in the 2019 general elections propelled the protest.
He complained there was no level playing field in the elections and said for the country to have free and fair elections in the future, there must be a showdown and people must define who should be their electoral officers.
“The revolution has, therefore, become inevitable. We didn’t choose to go for revolution, they chose it by ensuring that there was no level playing field in the last elections.
“As you know, they did it in Sudan and it was started by some women. They were making fun of them, but they did not stop until doctors joined them, the labour union joined them and what started with five people became 5,000 and 500,000 and became five million and the regime fell,” he said.
However, two days to the planned protest, early on Saturday morning, Sowore was arrested by operatives of the Department of State Services.
According to Sahara Reporters, its publisher’s residence was invaded between 1.15 am and 1.25 am.
An associate of the activist said the knocks on Sowore’s apartment door woke them up and alerted them to the presence of “heavily armed” DSS men.
The operatives, numbering eight, were said to have cordoned off the building and arrested the activist after a slight altercation in the gym.
He was then reportedly driven towards the CMD Road at Shangisha, Ketu, Lagos which was his last known location.
He has since been kept incommunicado.
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