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.