Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
Officials of the Department of State Services (DSS) made an attempt to re-arrest Publisher of a popular online news platform, Sahara Reporters, Mr Omoyele Sowore, on Friday.
Mr Sowore, convener of the #RevolutionNow Protest, was released on Thursday afternoon after a court directed the agency to free him after meeting his stringent bail conditions few weeks ago.
He was initially apprehended in his Lagos home in August 2019 after he planned to stage a nationwide protest to force government of President Muhammadu Buhari to fulfil his electoral promises of protecting lives and properties of citizens and make them enjoy dividends of democracy.
In a gestapo style, officials of the DSS stormed where Mr Sowore was and bundled him to Abuja, where he was arraigned at a court. He was initially granted bail, but the agency felt the conditions were too soft and he was re-arraigned at another court, where he was given tougher bail conditions.
After some weeks, he was able to meet the conditions, but the DSS foot-dragged, keeping him in its custody until the court on Thursday gave the agency 24 hours to release him.
At the court on Friday, where Mr Sowore and ‘his accomplice’, Mr Olawale Bakare appeared in continuation of their trial, the DSS attempted to arrest the duo again, but they were prevented.
According to Sahara Reporters, the DSS operatives chased away the presiding judge, Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu and assaulted a journalist in their bid to arrest two persons, who have been accused of attempting to cause unrest in Nigeria and overthrow a duly elected government.
Mr Sowore contested in the 2019 presidential election alongside Mr Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), but lost to the eventual winner, President Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC). He had contested in the exercise under the platform of the African Action Congress (AAC).
