Sowore’s Arrest: Buhari’s govt behaving like Abacha’s – Soyinka

* DSS’ invasion of Sowore’s abode, a terrorist midnight
arrest

Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, on Sunday described the
Saturday morning arrest of human rights activist, Omoyele Sowore,
by the Department of State Security, as “a terrorist midnight
arrest.”

He added that it was “a travesty and violation of the
fundamental rights” of citizens to congregate and make public their
concerns.

Soyinka said Sowore, the presidential candidate of the African
Action Congress in the February 2019 presidential election, has not
engaged in any treasonable act as being claimed by the Inspector
General of Police, Mohammed Adamu.

Sowore is the convener of ‘#RevolutionNow’ protests, which has
been scheduled to hold nationwide on Monday, August 5.

Soyinka, in a statement made available on Sunday and titled:
“Surely, Not Again!!!” said the “deployment of alarmist
expressions” such as “treason,” “anarchist,” and “public
incitement” by security agents was predictable and banal and that
the expressions have become meaningless.

The Nobel Laureate wrote, in part: “Nothing that he said to me
in private engagement ever remotely approached an intent to
destabilise governance or bypass the normal democratic means of
changing a government.

“I therefore find the reasons given by the Inspector-General for
the arrest and detention of this young ex-presidential candidate
totally contrived and untenable, unsupported by any shred of
evidence.

“His arrest is a travesty and violation of the fundamental
rights of citizens to congregate and make public their
concerns.

“This is all so sadly déjà vu. How often must we go through this
wearisome cycle?

“We underwent identical cynical contrivances under the late,
unlamented Sani Abacha, when he sent storm-troopers to disrupt a
planning session for a similar across-nation march at Tai Solarin
School, Ikenne.

“This was followed up by a personalised letter that was hand
delivered by the State Security Services to me under their summons,
at their Abeokuta so-called ‘Annexe,’ with near identical wording
to the threats contained in today’s release from the desk of the
Chief of Police.

“At least, I was summoned, not subjected to a terrorist midnight
arrest. Some irony!

“The same pattern Pavlovian conduct manifested itself under yet
another supposed democratic ruler who personally declared that the
gathering of civilians to deliberate on, and propose a constitution
for the nation was ‘high treason’, and would be resisted by the
full rigour of state power if we persisted.

“The Inspector-General of Police mobilized his forces and issued
inflammatory proclamations, but PRONACO went ahead despite all the
thundering from Aso citadel. Can the police ever learn anything
also their tear-gassing and brutalizing of grieving mothers who
marched peacefully to protest the deaths of their children in a
plane crash inferno?

“Their mission, under that same regime, which was simply to
deliver a letter to government house in Lagos, demanding greater
safety in airline operations, yet such a rational intent, born of
traumatic circumstances, was quashed on the sidewalks of a supposed
twentieth century nation.

“And yet again, even a faceless cabal under yet another civilian
regime refused to be left out of the insensate play of power. A
march on Aso Rock calling for an end to governance by a ghostly
entity was slated to be crushed, but fortunately, a conflicting
balance of interests decided in favour of a reduced trajectory of
protest.

“And so on and on and on, in a nation which continues to speak
at once through both sides of the mouth, spewing out the same
Treason monotone, as if this was a magic incantation that could
substitute for the venting of mass feelings, even as collective
therapy,” he said.

Soyinka urged the Inspector-General to wade through the daily
journals of the past few weeks and months, read and digest the
calls by numerous sectors of society – across professions and
national groupings – for demonstrations against the parlous
conditions of society, all identifying ills to which attention must
be drawn, and urgently, through mass action.

According to him, demonstrations and processions were time
honoured, democratic ways of drawing not only the attention of
government to ills, but of mobilizing the public towards a
proactive consciousness of their condition, and thereby exhorting
civil society also to devise means of ameliorating their condition
through their own efforts.

“Religious bodies have urged such remedies, so have civic
associations. The ready recourse to arrests, incarceration and
threats to civilians are ultimately counter-productive. They
alienate the citizens, erode their confidence in governance
responsiveness, and thereby advance the very extremist nightmare
that security agencies believe they are acting to thwart.

“If we cannot learn from the histories and experiences of other
societies, let us at least learn from ours. Freedom is not so
glibly qualified. It cannot be doled out like slops of charity from
soup kitchens. Let the Police stick to their task of protecting and
managing protests, not attempt to place their own meaning and
declaration of intent on bogey words like – revolution,” Soyinka
stated.

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VIDEO: DSS Speaks on Detention of Sowore over
Revolution-Now Protest
Video by PRNigeria: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mb1hvhf0TI^[1]

The Department of Security Services (DSS) has disclosed that Mr.
Omoyele Sowore, the Publisher of Sahara Reporters and founder of
the African Action Congress (AAC), was arrested by security
operatives and is in their custody for now.

The DSS Spokesperson Peter Afunaya claimed that Sowore crossed
the red line after he called for a revolution over alleged bad
governance, insecurity and corruption, among other national
issues.

Meanwhile, PRNigeria gathered that the security agencies in
Nigeria were concerned about foreign interest in the agitation for
the planned Revolution Now Protest.

The DSS at a media briefing in Abuja maintained that the
proposed revolution march instigated by former Presidential
Candidate of AAC will threaten public safety, peaceful co-existence
and social harmony.

Hence, the DSS, as a responsible security agency, will not just
sit idly and watch any individual, group and their cohorts rise and
threaten the peace, unity and constitutionalism of the country.

Afunaya who described revolution as insurgency, revolt,
insurrection and forceful takeover of government, added that
Nigeria is not a Banana Republic and cannot be made one by the
likes of Mr. Sowore.

He emphasized that DSS will not allow self-centred and
violence-inclined persons to take law into their own hands.

“Though there is apprehension and anxiety among citizens
already, we wish to assure friends of Nigeria, and other
law-abiding citizens, that there will be no revolution of any kind
come Monday, August 5, 2019.

“A democratically elected government is in charge, and we cannot
allow any person or group to foment chaos or fan the ember of
revolution,” he said.

Mr. Omoyele Sowore, was the presidential candidate of the
African Action Congress (AAC)in the 2019 general election.

By PRNigeria