Presidency Justifies Sowore’s Rearrest, Says He’s Person of Interest to DSS

By Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja

The Presidency has justified the re arrest of the convener of #RevolutionNow, Omoyele Sowore, by the operatives of Department of State Services (DSS), by stating that the latter was planning a revolution to overthrow a democratically elected government of Nigeria.

Global outrage has continued to trail Friday morning rearrest of Sowore in the premises of the Federal High Court of Abuja, by DSS officers, few hours after he was released on bail by Justice Ifeoma Ojukwu

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity, Garba Shehu, said in a statement on Sunday that the DSS was only exercising its power by rearresting Sowore.

The presidential spokesman accused Sowore of calling for a revolution to overthrow the democratically elected government of Nigeria, adding the DSS did not require the permission of the Presidency in all cases to carry out its essential responsibilities that were laid down in the Nigerian Constitution.

 He said anyone who had followed Sowore’s actions and words would agree he is a person of interest to the DSS.

Shehu insisted that no government will fold its arms and allow anybody to openly call for destabilisation in the country.

 “He did so on television, and from a privileged position as the owner of a widely read digital newspaper run from the United States of America.

“He founded an organisation, Revolution Now, to launch, in their own words, “Days of Rage”, with the publicised purpose of formenting mass civil unrest and the elected administration’s overthrow,” Shehu said.

He said the Sowore was not an ordinary citizen expressing his views freely on social media and the internet, but a presidential candidate himself, who ran – and lost – as the flag bearer of the African Action Congress (AAC) in the February 23 general elections.

“Nigeria’s democracy was a long time in the making, and was achieved after decades of often harsh, military-led overthrows of government: the kind of situation Sowore was advocating.

‘To believe in and desire armed revolution is not normal amongst ‘human rights activists’, as Sowore has been incorrectly described,” Shehu stressed.

He said Nigeria was already grappling with an insurgency that has killed thousands of people and rendered millions of people homeless in the north-east region of our country courtesy of the war of terror engendered by Boko Haram militants.

The Presidential aide warned that Nigerians do not need another spate of lawlessness and loss of lives in the name of ‘revolution’, as Sowore is a New York resident and who can easily disappear and leave behind whatever instability he intends to cause, like the leader of the Independent People of Biafra (IPOB) Nnamdi Kanu.