The Department of State Security, DSS says its officers did
not arrest Omoyele Sowore, convener of the #RevolutionNow movement, in court,
claiming that the journalist’s supporters were only acting an “orchestrated
drama”.
A statement signed by Peter Afunanya, DSS spokesperson, the
state secret police, said there were none of its officers involved in the
incidents recorded in the courtroom.
See the full statement below....
It has become important that the Department of State
Services responds to the serial misinformation being circulated in the media
about its involvement in the incident that occurred on 6th December, 2019 at
the Federal High Court, Abuja.
It is instructive to note that during the court proceeding
of the day under reference, Defence Counsel, Femi FALANA (SAN), called the
attention of the Judge to a suspicion that the Service was planning to
re-arrest Omoyele SOWORE immediately after the court session.
The Court discountenanced his alarm and asserted that the
Service was law abiding and would not engage in such and subsequently adjourned
to February, 2020.
However, when SOWORE stepped out of the court and sighted
operatives of the Service within the premises, he ran back into the courtroom.
In a bid to shield him from an imaginary arrest, his uncontrollable supporters
mobbed him while chanting “you can’t arrest him” thus the pandemonium that
ensued.
A critical look at the videos in circulation would convince
any objective viewer that there was no DSS personnel during the entire period
the Sowore crowd acted out its orchestrated drama. Its personnel were never, at
any time, involved in the incident. In actual fact, it was his people who
seized him. And from the latest developments, it has become obvious what the
intent for such mischief was meant for – simply to serve a propagandist purpose
as well as bring the Service to disrepute.
Eye witness and several media accounts have disclosed that
the Court had adjourned peacefully without an untoward incident when suddenly
the unruly crowd imported into the Courtroom went into frenzy on the mere
suspicion that DSS was sighted at the court premises. The eventual re-arrest of
Sowore by the DSS was effected outside the courtroom. His lead counsel has
affirmed this.
The DSS, as a professional, responsible and law abiding
Organization, could not have invaded a courtroom including the one presided
over by a respected Judge who is not only handling its case but whose Order was
unconditionally obeyed within a 24 hour ultimatum. The Service holds the
judiciary in utmost respect and will continue to work with it for national
peace and public safety in Nigeria.
It has therefore become unarguable and raises a moral
question as to who, between Sowore and the Service, dislikes or disobeys the
Courts. In this regard, public attention may be drawn to the 25th July 2019
statement of SOWORE that “I’m not talking of protest. I’m embarking on
revolution… Don’t tell me about legal implications or what a Judge will say. I
don’t care …” On 5th December when SOWORE was released, he had, at the
Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja addressed a group of persons who, he reassured of
his cause to create anarchy in the country.
It may be recalled that the Service had on 3rd December,
2019 raised alarm about a plot to destabilize the country. It is quite
remarkable that the plot has already started playing out.
To ensure this objective is further achieved, some persons
and groups are scurrying to seize the opportunity of the misleading court
incident and the wrong narrative against the DSS to organize an insurrection in
the country. They have continued to falsely curry and mobilize international
sentiments and attention, through clear misrepresentation of the facts, for
their selfish ends.
For emphasis, it should be noted that SOWORE is facing trial
not as an activist, journalist or a politician, but for his resort to call for
violence, forceful takeover of government and suspected transnational illegal
activities.
It is most unfortunate that SOWORE, shortly after being
released from custody, based on court order, resorted to acts inimical to
security. To this effect, only SOWORE has been re-arrested as his co-defendant,
Olawale BAKARE, was not picked up even when FALANA had promised to deliver him
to the Service that is not presently interested in him.
Though sections of the populace have been fed with spurious
narratives about these developments, Nigerians and the International Community
should not be gullible or even vulnerable to the machinations of groups
desirous of misleading them.
The Service is committed to the discharge of its mandate of
detecting and preventing threats against the internal security of Nigeria. It
supports democracy in the country and will do all that is legal to protect it.
It will also ensure that efforts of anti-democratic forces are frustrated.
Peter Afunanya, Ph.D
Public Relations Officer,
Department of State Services,
National Headquarters,
Abuja
7th December, 2019
