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Phillip Nwosu
Former Vice President and presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the February 2019 election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, and other Nigerians have condemned the arrest of Omoyele Sowore, a former presidential candidate and publisher of Sahara Reporters.
Through his verified Twitter handle @atiku, he said: “Freedom of speech is not only constitutionally guaranteed, it is the substructure of our democracy. These kidnappings in the guise of arrests stand condemned –AA.”
Similarly, Senator Shehu Sani condemned the invasion of Sowore’s home saying: “Let not our prisons be filled with those that speaketh, but those that killeth. The voices of dissent are the heartbeat of democracy. There is no better way to measure the democratic credentials of people in power than their attitude to unpleasant truth and their response when it’s spoken.”
Also a group, Socio-Economic Rights And Accountability Project (SERAP), called for the unconditional release of Sowore, saying that this would be the “first step to stop Nigeria’s precipitous human rights slide.”
The group also accused the elite of sponsoring protests and attacks on Amnesty International, a foremost human rights organisation.
A former Minister and chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Femi Fani-Kayode, also condemned Sowore’s arrest, and said that the arrest was unnecessary and uncalled for, adding that “Sowore should be released immediately and unconditionally.”
Similarly, former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili, called on well-meaning Nigerians to stand with Sowore and defend his right and freedom to protest any matter of governance that worries him.
Sowore made his arrest known via his Twitter handle about 1:25 a.myesterday.
A minute after, the former presidential candidate tweeted “Jap,” which, according to his news platform, confirmed that his phone must have been seized while trying to raise the alarm about his arrest.
The news website added that its publisher’s arrest was not unconnected to #RevolutionNow, a series of planned protests against bad governance in the country scheduled for tomorrow.
Mr Sowore contested the presidential election on the platform of the African Action Congress (AAC).
