DSS Operative
Group Condemns
DSS Operative
Group Condemns Arrest of Sowore of Sahara
Reporters
HURIWA CONDEMNS CLAMPDOWN AND ARREST OF SOWORE; DEMANDS HIS
IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
The foremost civil Rights advocacy group- HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS
ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA ( HURIWA) has condemned as unconstitutional
and illegal the ARREST of the opposition politician and the
publisher of the famous online platform- Saharareporters.com Mr.
Omoyele SOWORE by the Department of State Services (DSS) just as
the Rights group has called for his immediate freedom.
The Rights group said the ARREST of SOWORE is a culmination of
the systematic CLAMPDOWN and organised brutish attacks targeting
persons and groups with divergent opinion from the status quo just
as HURIWA restated her alarm that the current administration has
embarked on the SHRINKING and deliberate stiffling of the CIVIC
SPACES. HURIWA accused the DSS of illegally bugging telephones of
prominent civil rights leaders including leaders of HURIWA. .
The group which submitted that the fundamentals of the practice
of constitutional democracy are animated by the protection and
promotion of the basic constitutional freedoms of speech and the
opening of the civic spaces, has raised alarm that since coming to
office, President Muhammadu Buhari has adopted anti-democratic
postures that constitute grave threats to constitutional
democracy.
According to HURIWA : “it is an undeniable fact that civic space
is the bedrock and the fundamental of any open and democratic
government which is guaranteed under the chapter four of the
Nigerian constitution of 1999 (as amended); all other global human
rights conventions and laws do also support the fundamental
freedoms as espoused in chapter 4 of the constitution. May we
remind president Buhari that his attacks against those fundamental
freedoms constitute grave threats to democracy because when civic
space is open, citizenry and civic society platforms are then able
to organize, participate and communicate without hindrance or
impediments that the open threats to lives and freedoms of the
practitioners have now become. This can only be the case if
government is compelled to discharge her obligations to the
citizenry. The freedoms of association; peaceful assembly and
expression are no doubt the strategic elements of an open civic
space. These critical elements are systematically put under attacks
by the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration and un
fortunately the free World is watching as constitutional democracy
is about to collapse in Nigeria”.
HURIWA stated that the report that the presidential candidate
African Action Congress (AAC) Omoyele Sowore was arrested by
Operatives of the Department of State Services to thwart the
holding of nationwide protests against misgovernance and
unprecedented insecurity shows that the current administration
lacks the frame of mind to tolerate dissenting voices. “Does anyone
in this government benefit from these killings by all kinds of
armed freelance killers and bandits so much so that the government
is afraid of street protests to condemn these killings?”
HURIWA described the arrest of Omoyele Sowore Soworethe leading
human rights activist in Lagos, pro-democracy campaigner, founder
of online news agency Sahara Reporters who was arrested Saturday
morning at his home as clandestine and primitive has also demanded
his immediate release and public apology by President Muhammadu
Buhari.
According to the Rights group: “Why invade the residence of a
citizen in the wee hours of the morning like thieves or kidnappers
to whisk away a citizen? This is reminiscent of the dictatorial
style if the diabolical military dictatorship of General Sani
Abacha which is totally not in consonance with the principle and
practice of constitutional democracy”.
HURIWA emphatically accused the DSs of seeking to destroy free
speech because the act was made to frustrate the plan to stage
series of planned civil protests just as the Rights group said this
may be as a result of his (OMOWOLE SOWORE’S) plans to mobilise
people in Lagos and many parts of the country for a revolution
protest tagged ‘ Days of Rage’ to demand a better Nigeria.
HURIWA observed too that since Sowore tweeted: ” DSS invades
Sowore’s” and was subsequently not allowed to speak to his lawyer
shows that the DSS is yet to come to terms with the fact that
Nigeria has for 20 years practiced constitutional democracy with
inbuilt provisions in chapter 4 for the protection of the
fundamental freedoms of the citizenry including the right to a
legal representation and a right to the dignity of his personhood
as recognised by international and local human rights laws.
By PRNigeria