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Tag: sowore

  • Banky W slams Buhari over Sowore’s rearrest

    Nigerian singer and politician, Banky W has condemned President Mohammadu Buhari to right the wrongs on the rearrest of Omoyele Sowore, convener of the RevolutionNow Movement.

    TheNewsGuru recalls that on Thursday, the Department of State Services (DSS) had released the embattled activist — 124 days after he was arrested for “threatening public peace.”

    A few hours after his freedom, the DSS stormed the federal high court in Abuja, disrupted Sowore’s trial in a move that resulted in uproar, and eventually rearrested him, as against a subsisting court order.

    Following the development, Banky W took to his Twitter handle on Friday to join the league of who have condemned the occurrence.

    He also described the rearrest as both an “absolute disgrace” and “blatant abuse of human rights.”

     

    “This brings shame to our fragile Democracy. This is an absolute disgrace to our country & a blatant abuse of human rights. It doesn’t matter whether you agree with Sowore’s political ambitions or not. This is a new low, even for us. M.Buhari, pls surprise us & do the right thing,” he wrote.

     

  • Sowore’s rearrest: Tame your wild dogs now!, Soyinka tells ‘President-General’ Buhari

    Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka has blasted President Muhammadu Buhari over the re-arrest of the Convener, #RevolutionNow Protest, Omoyele Sowore and Olawale Bakare at the Federal High Court, Abuja on Friday by the Department of State Services, DSS.

    Soyinka said it had become imperative and urgent to send message to “President-General Buhari: Rein in your wild dogs of disobedience. And for a start, get a trainer to teach them some basic court manners!”

    Soyinka, in a statement on Friday likened the scene leading to the arrest of Sowore and Bakare in the court premises to that of an African Wild Dog.

    According to Soyinka, he was amazed by the level of disobedience to court’s order by the present government of Buhari.

    “A few years ago, I watched the video of a pack of the famed African wild dogs hunt, eventually bring down, and proceed to devour a quarry. It was an impala, antelope family. The pack isolated the most vulnerable looking member of the herd – it was pregnant – pursued it, until it fled to a waterhole which, for such animals, is the nearest thing to a sanctuary.

    “A few minutes ago, almost as it was happening, I watched the video of a pack of the DSS, bring down, and fight over their unarmed, totally defenceless quarry within the sanctuary of a court of law. I found little or no difference between the two scenarios, except that the former, the wild dogs, exhibited more civilized table manners than the DSS in court manners,” he said.

    The Nobel Laureate said only yesterday, in his commentary on the ongoing Sowore saga, he pointed out the near perfect similarity between plain crude thuggery and the current rage of court disobedience, saying that little did he suspected that “the state children of disobedience would aspire to the level of the African wild dogs on a pack hunt.

    “I apologize for underestimating the DSS capacity for the unthinkable. I reiterate the nation’s concern, indeed alarm, about the escalating degradation of the judiciary through multiple means, of which disobedience of court orders is fast becoming the norm.

    “May I remind this government that disobedience calls to disobedience, and that disobedience of the orders of the constitutional repository of the moral authority of arbitration – the judiciary – can only lead eventually to a people’s disregard of the authority of other arms of civil society, a state of desperation that is known, recognized and accepted as – civil disobedience.

    “It is so obvious – state disobedience leads eventually to civil disobedience, piecemeal or through a collective withdrawal of recognition of other structures of authority. That way leads to chaos but – who set it in motion? As is often the case, the state, unquestionably. Such a state bears full responsibility for the ensuing social condition known as anomie.”

     

  • Atiku reacts to Sowore’s rearrest, says Nigeria under tyranny

    Former Nigeria vice president Atiku Abubakar on Friday the invasion of the Federal High Court, Abuja, to arrest Sahara Reporters publisher Omoyele Sowore was a violation of democratic norms.

    “Nigeria is not a dictatorship,” Atiku tweeted.

    “We are a democracy, no matter how inconvenient this fact is to the powers that have forced themselves on us.”

    “To keep Nigeria a democracy is the paramount duty of all concerned stakeholders. Please speak up against this tyranny and side with the Nigerian people.”

    Similarly, the former Vice President also released another statement in which he insisted that Friday’s invasion of a courtroom at the Federal High Court, Abuja by operatives of the Department of State Service (DSS), was a rape on the sanctity of the court.

    In the statement distributed to newsmen, which he personally signed, Atiku said never in the history of Nigerian democracy has a judge been treated in such a disdainful and brazen attack on not just her person and office, but on the entire judiciary.

    The statement reads: “Today, I am in extreme anguish of spirit having watched the unfortunate drama that played itself out at the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, in which agents of the state not only caused a commotion in court in order to frustrate a judgment of a court of competent authority.

    “This is unacceptable. It is a rape on the sanctity of the court. Nigeria is not a dictatorship. We are a democracy, no matter how inconvenient this fact is to the powers that have forced themselves on us”.

    Atiku called for investigation into the invasion with a view to identifying those responsible for the maltreatment meted out to Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu and the desecration of her court, and indeed the Nigerian judiciary.

    “They must be sanctioned to the highest extent permissible by our laws”, Atiku said and called on law enforcement agencies in country to immediately respect not just the court order made by Justice Ojukwu, but the order of any court in Nigeria, on other detainees like Sambo Dasuki, Ibrahim Zakzaky, among others.

    “We cannot have a situation where our government is quick to obey foreign court orders and even quicker to disobey domestic court orders. This is symptomatic of a mindset that is servile to foreign powers and brutal to Nigerians.

    “Without the rule of law, there can be no rule at all. Power in Nigeria still flows from the people, not from the barrel of a gun. I call on all men and women of goodwill not to keep quiet or sit on the fence at times like this.

    “To keep Nigeria a democracy is the paramount duty of all concerned stakeholders. Please speak up against this tyranny and side with the Nigerian people”, he added. scribing the invasion as a desecration of the court and the entire judiciary.

    which he personally signed, Atiku said never in the history of Nigerian democracy has a judge been treated in such a disdainful and brazen attack on not just her person and office, but on the entire judiciary.

    The statement said, “Today, I am in extreme anguish of spirit having watched the unfortunate drama that played itself out at the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, in which agents of the state not only caused a commotion in court in order to frustrate a judgment of a court of competent authority.

    “This is unacceptable. It is a rape on the sanctity of the court. Nigeria is not a dictatorship. We are a democracy, no matter how inconvenient this fact is to the powers that have forced themselves on us”.

    Atiku called for investigation into the invasion with a view to identifying those responsible for the maltreatment meted out to Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu and the desecration of her court, and indeed the Nigerian judiciary.

    “They must be sanctioned to the highest extent permissible by our laws”, Atiku said and called on law enforcement agencies in country to immediately respect not just the court order made by Justice Ojukwu, but the order of any court in Nigeria, on other detainees like Sambo Dasuki, Ibrahim Zakzaky, among others.

    “We cannot have a situation where our government is quick to obey foreign court orders and even quicker to disobey domestic court orders. This is symptomatic of a mindset that is servile to foreign powers and brutal to Nigerians.

    “Without the rule of law, there can be no rule at all. Power in Nigeria still flows from the people, not from the barrel of a gun. I call on all men and women of goodwill not to keep quiet or sit on the fence at times like this.

    “To keep Nigeria a democracy is the paramount duty of all concerned stakeholders. Please speak up against this tyranny and side with the Nigerian people”, he added.

    Operatives of the Department of Security Service (DSS) on Friday re-arrested Sowore barely 24hours after his release.

    Sowore was released on Thursday night after the court gave Nigeria’s secret police a 24-hour ultimatum to release him.

    The court also awarded N100,000 against the prosecution for failing to comply with court orders requesting the release of Sowore and for not serving the defence counsel with necessary documents early enough.

    At the resumed hearing on Friday, Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu after court proceedings adjourned the case till February 11 and 12 and 13, 2020 for definite hearing.

    But as everyone filed out of the courtroom, no fewer than 15 armed officers of the DSS, who had laid an ambush for the defendants, made their way towards Sowore and his co-defendant Bakare.

    There was a stampede as the officers cocked their guns scaring people away.

    Sowore and Bakare, however, resisted being rearrested, running back into the courtroom.

  • Davido condemns DSS re-arrest of Sowore

    Davido condemns DSS re-arrest of Sowore

    Nigerian pop-star, Davido has condemned the re-arrest of Omoyele Sowore, convener of the RevolutionNow Movement, by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS).

    TheNewsGuru recalls that on Thursday, the DSS had released the embattled activist — 124 days after he was arrested for “threatening public peace.”

    In a new development, 24 hours after he regained freedom, the DSS stormed the federal high court in Abuja, disrupted Sowore’s trial in a move which resulted in commotion, and eventually re-arrested him, as against a subsisting court order.

    Earlier today, Davido took to his Twitter page to state that “justice is slowly becoming a thing of the past” in Nigeria.

    “Justice slowly becoming a thing of the past in our dear country …. a kid somewhere in Nigeria dreaming of becoming a lawyer and bettering the community would see this and start having doubts … just sad,” the Afropop star wrote.

     

    Nigerian Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka had earlier rated the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration as the worst in the history of the country in terms of disregard for the court.

     

  • Sowore: Buhari, the whole world is watching you – Oby Ezekwesili

    Sowore: Buhari, the whole world is watching you – Oby Ezekwesili

    Former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili, has condemned the re-arrest of Omoyele Sowore, convener of the RevolutionNow Movement.

    DSS operatives had, on Friday chased out lawyers from the court room and attacked journalists after wish they rearrested Sowore.

    Following the invasion of the courtroom, the trial judge, Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu adjourned the matter till February 11, 12 and 13 for definite hearing.

    This is coming less than a day after Sowore was released by the DSS after an Abuja Federal High Court ordered for his release within 24 hours.

    Reacting on Twitter, Ezekwesilli wrote, “President @MBuhari, the whole world is watching the video of officials of the State Security Service which you directly supervise, brutally violate the constitutional rights of a citizen @YeleSowore inside a court and desecrated our Judiciary- an independent arm of government.

    “I urge my fellow citizens who are reasonable enough to know that today’s episode amounts to full aggression against the Judiciary by the Executive arm of @MBuhari and portends an extremely dangerous development. We must all stand to defend our hard-won Democracy. We must.

  • SERAP condemns DSS invasion of Justice Ojukwu’s court, re-arrest of Sowore

    SERAP condemns DSS invasion of Justice Ojukwu’s court, re-arrest of Sowore

    Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has strongly condemned the violent re-arrest of Omoyele Sowore and his co-defendant, Olawale Bakare by officials of the State Security Service (SSS), and the apparent harassment and intimidation of Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu on Friday.

    Armed SSS officials reportedly stormed the courtroom, causing pandemonium at the court and physically assaulting Mr Sowore. The judge reportedly had to take cover. She had earlier ordered the SSS to release Sowore within 24 hours and also pay him N100,000 for improper legal conduct. The SSS then released Mr Sowore only for him and his co-defendant to be violently re-arrested.

    Reacting, SERAP’s Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare said: “The appalling invasion of the courtroom and the ill-treatment of Sowore and Bakare is a blatant attack on the rule of law and the sanctity and integrity of our justice system. An independent judiciary, free from intimidation and harassment is a basic precondition to a functioning democracy under the rule of law.”

    SERAP’s statement read in part: “The violent re-arrest of Sowore and Bakare right inside the courtroom is a textbook case of a mockery of justice and abuse of the judicial process. It drives home the failure of the Nigerian government to fulfill its constitutional and international human rights obligations to respect citizens’ human rights and observe the rule of law.

    “What happened in the courtroom is a fatal blow to human rights and the independence and integrity of the judiciary. SERAP is seriously concerned that the Government of President Muhammadu Buhari is not observing fundamental international human rights and due process standards.

    “We urge the Nigerian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Sowore and Bakare and end the fragrant attack on the rule of law. “If Nigerian authorities are serious about human rights and the rule of law, they should hold those responsible to account. Only then will Nigerians have full confidence in this government’s ability to protect their human rights, obey the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary.

    “The United Nations Human Rights Council, African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and members of the international community should urgently put pressure on the Nigerian authorities to end serious violations and abuses of human rights and threats to the rule of law in Nigeria.”

  • Sowore: DSS invasion of court room to make arrest has never happened in Nigeria before – Falana

    Sowore: DSS invasion of court room to make arrest has never happened in Nigeria before – Falana

    Femi Falana, Senior Advocate of Nigeria and lawyer has narrated the build-up to Sowore and Bakare’s rearrest by the DSS at a Federal High Court in Abuja, barely 24 hours after their release from DSS custody.

    Falana who is the lawyer to activists, Omoyele Sowore and Olawale Bakare said: “This morning, the SSS lawyers and the lawyers of the Attorney-General reported to the court that the order of the court had been complied with and I confirmed because our clients were released last night.

    “As soon as the court adjourned the matter till February next year, the SSS operatives pounced on the court, disrupted proceeding and then attempted to arrest our clients even in the web of the court, that was extremely embarrassing because it has never happened in Nigeria where you enter a court to arrest anybody, even an alleged coup plotter.

    “The atmosphere was very rowdy, but I insisted that the arrest could not be carried out within the precinct of the court.

    “He was going to be arrested outside the premises but there was a crowd that resisted the arrest, but I appealed to everybody and asked Sowore to jump into my car and so we drove to the office of the SSS because they said he will just answer a few questions, but now he is being detained.

    “We are going to take steps under the law by asking for his release again since they are claiming this is a fresh arrest.

    “Nobody has disclosed yet what his charges are; he couldn’t have committed any other offence because he has been detained for the past four months unless the SSS wants to tell the whole world that he committed this fresh offence while in their custody,” he stressed.

    Mr. Sowore and Mr Bakare who were released at about 7:15 pm on Thursday are facing seven counts bordering on conspiracy to commit treasonable felony, money laundering and cybercrimes, amongst others.

    They were arrested on August 3, days before a planned #RevolutionNow protest against “bad governance” in the country.

  • Drop all charges against Sowore, others arrested for exercising freedom of speech, AI tells Buhari

    Amnesty International (AI), on Friday, called on President Buhari’s governance to drop all charges against Omoyele Sowore, convener of the RevolutionNow Movement after his release from the custody of the Department of the State Service.

    Less than 24 hours after Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu ordered the release of detained Sowore, the Department of the State Service DSS, complied with the Judge’s order. Sowore was released along with his co-accused Olawale Bakare around 7:15 pm last night.

    They were released to their lead counsel and Senior Advocate of Nigeria SAN Mr. Femi Falana.

    Reacting, Amnesty International called on Buhari’s government to drop all charges against Sowore and his accomplices. The rights group added that Sowore was detained for exercising his freedom of expression hence all charges should be dropped against him.

    AI on its verified Twitter page wrote: “Amnesty International welcomes the release of Omoyele Sowore and Olawale Bakare. We again call on authorities to drop all charges against them. We are also calling for the release of Agba Jalingo. All of them were detained solely for exercising their freedom of expression.”

  • Drama as DSS finally rearrest Sowore, Bakare after 1hr battle

     

    The operatives of the Department of State Service (DSS) after about what seemed to be a strong resistance for about an hour finally whisked Sowore and Bakare to their headquarters in Abuja.

    Sowore was taken away at the gate of the headquarters of the Federal High Court at about 10.46am after he was brought down from the court by his lawyer, Femi Falana SAN.

    Sowore and Bakare were driven along with their lawyer Femi Falana SAN, in Falana’s car which was driven by a DSS operative.

    The DSS had swooped on Sowore and Bakare few yards from court 7, where Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu was presiding.

    Their attempt was initially resisted by Sowore’s supporters and police officers attached to the court who insisted that Sowore and Bakare cannot be arrested inside the court.

    However, it took the intervention of the defendants lawyer, Falana, before he could be taken away.

  • [Trending video] Sowore in physical battle with DSS to resist arrest in court

    [Trending video] Sowore in physical battle with DSS to resist arrest in court

    …whisked away after 1hr struggle

    Omoyele Sowore, Convener, #RevolutionNow protest, and his co-defendant, Olawale Bakare were rearrested by operatives of the Department of State Service (DSS) on Friday.

    TheNewsGuru (TNG) reports operatives of the DSS battled Court police Sowore and Bakare supporters before whisking them away, the event of which was caught on camera.

    See attached video below:

    The DSS rearrested and detained Sowore and Bakare on Friday, hours after they were released on bail on Thursday evening.

    There was mild drama as caught on camera at the court 7, Federal High Court, Abuja, on Friday, when the armed operatives of the DSS moved to rearrest the two men at the court premises.

    The drama stared shortly after Justice Ijoema Ojukwu adjourned the trial continuation till Feb. 11, 12 and 13 for definite hearing.

    Justice Ojukwu had, on Thursday, ordered the DSS to release Sowore and Bakare within 24 hours.

    Ojukwu, who gave the order, also awarded a N100, 000 fine against the DSS over its delay to serve the defence counsel with the additional proof of evidence in the ongoing trial despite the court’s order to the effect.

    The DSS had, on Thursday, complied with the court order by releasing the defendants and also paid the fine.

    At the Friday’s sitting, the DSS Lawyer, Hassan Listen, SAN, told the court that the security agency had already complied with the order of the court.

    He also hinted that based on the agreement between the parties, the matter adjourned till Feb. 11, 12 and 13 to enable the parties respond to applications filed.

    Also, speaking, Counsel to the defendants, Femi Falana, SAN, confirmed that his clients were released to him on Thursday evening.

    “My Lord, at about 5 o clock yesterday, I received a call from my respected colleague to send our lawyers to receive our clients.

    “I am happy to tell you that our clients were released and the N100, 000 cost was also paid.

    “On account of this, on behalf of our defendants, we wish to express our profound appreciation for your leadership and for standing up for integrity and for standing for the rule of law in Nigeria.

    “I also thank my colleague for impressing it on their client to obey the court order.

    “I hope my learned friend will allow the defendants to get their freedom notwithstanding the charges,” he told the court.

    Justice Ojukwu, who commended the DSS for obeying the Court order, said everyone must be ready to allow the law to take its course irrespective of position one held.

    “It is obvious that the DSS has demonstrated their commitment to rule of law.

    “No one is above the law,” adding that those at realms of power must respect the rule of law.

    “The DSS has earned the respect of Nigerians for this,” the judge said.

    She then adjourned till Feb. 11, 12 and 13 for definite hearing.

    The court registrar then called the next case for hearing and as everyone began to move out of the court premises before some officers of the DSS, numbering about 15, who had laid ambush for the defendants, started making their way towards Sowore and Bakare.

    There was a stampede as the officers cocked their guns scaring people away.

    Sowore and Bakare, however resisted being rearrested. They ran back into the court premises as the action resulted in a commotion.

    Justice Ojukwu quickly retired into her chamber.