SOWORE’S REARREST: SERAP Calls For Prosecution Of DSS Operatives
A non-governmental organisation, Socio-Economic Right and Accountability Project (SERAP) has called for the prosecution of operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) who reportedly manhandled and rearrested the Convener of the #RevolutionNow movement, Omoyele Sowore on Friday.
Sowore, who was released from the custody of the DSS on Thursday after Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu of the Federal High Court, Abuja gave the service a 24-hour ultimatum to release him after disobeying her earlier order to release the activist.
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He spent 124 days in the custody of the DSS.
Justice Ojukwu, who has been handling his treasonable felony trial, insisted that her November 6 order must be complied with and Sowore must be released from custody or senior officials of the DSS would be held in criminal contempt.
But on Friday, the secret police rearrested Sowore and his co-defendant, Olawale Bakare.
But in its reaction to the action of the DSS, SERAP in several tweets on its twitter handle, the non-governmental organisation berated the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, and called for the immediate release of the duo and respect the sanctity and integrity of the country’s judiciary.
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“The Nigerian authorities should immediately free Sowore and Bakare, respect the sanctity and integrity of our judicial system and ensure full accountability for those who committed the appalling abuses.
“Sowore and Bakare’s re-arrest is yet another example of the government of President Muhammadu Buhari’s total contempt for human rights, the rule of law and the independence and integrity of the judiciary.
“SERAP’s representatives in court reported that the judge had to quickly take cover, as the officials of SSS entered the courtroom and ill-treated Sowore, Bakare. This is the type of things routinely witness in authoritarian states,” the tweets said.
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Sowore was earlier arrested on August 3 over charges of treasonable felony by the Nigerian government ahead of the #RevolutionNow protest he was planning and promoting.
