Human rights activist and pro-democracy campaigner, Omoyele Sowore, has threatened another mass protest if some youths arrested for wearing ‘Buhari Must Go’ T-shirts to a Sunday Service at Dunamis International Gospel Centre Headquarters in Lugbe, Abuja last Sunday, are not released within seven days.
Those arrested and detained by the Department of State Services (DSS) are Emmanuel Larry, Henry Nwodo, Samuel Gabriel, Ben Manasseh and Anene Udoka. They wore T-Shirts with the inscription #BuhariMustGo to the church and were picked up by DSS operatives.
Sowore, at a press conference organised in Abuja, yesterday, by a group called ‘Take It Back Movement’, also alleged that the General Overseer and Senior Pastor of the church, Pastor Paul Enenche, collaborated with the DSS to effect the arrest of the persons.
According to him, “the church has allowed itself to be used by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, which he described as despotic.
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“The church should be a refuge for the oppressed and not a collaborator with oppressors. We are urging the church since it handed over the five persons to the DSS to tell them to release the detainees,” he stated.
Earlier, Damilare Adenola of the Take It Back Movement, who presided over the press conference, accused the Buhari administration of “heinous violation of the rights of Nigerian citizens.”
“Aspart of our commitment to the fight against injustice as a group, we use this opportunity to also condemn the regime for its acts of heinous violations of the rights of Nigerian citizens who are agitating for the respect for people’s rights to life, dignity and self-determination rights, such as the case of Nnamdi Kanu, who was tortured and unlawfully repatriated from Kenya; Sheikh El-zakyzaky, whose arbitrary detention has spanned over 2000 days; Oduduwa republic agitators, whose house was invaded and resulted in the extra-judicial killing of two persons and continued illegal detention of 13 persons and #EndSARS activists wallowing in illegal detention.
“It should be noted that human rights are sacred under the law and they remain guaranteed and protected. We, therefore, call for the immediate and unconditional release of all these individuals and those not mentioned but who are facing unjust punishment. To reiterate, if these releases however are not done in the next seven days, a mass nationwide protest would be called to compel the regime to heed the voice of justice,” the group said.
The group announced that it had filed a court process for the enforcement of the fundamental human rights of the detained persons.
The suit, according to Adenola, joined the DSS Director-General and Pastor Enenche.
The group described the arrest and continued detention of the five persons as completely illegal and crude.
“For the records, it is important to state that since the unfortunate event, the detained young people have been denied access to their lawyer and close family members, even though they have not committed any offence known to the laws of Nigeria.
“You would agree with us that the arrest and continued detention of these courageous young people have no basis in law and are a contravention of their fundamental human rights to freedom of expression, assembly and freedom movement as guaranteed under Sections 39, 40, and 41, respectively, of the Nigerian constitution and other international conventions and treaties to which Nigeria is a party to,” Adenola added.
When reminded that a Bill is being processed in the National Assembly that may outlaw ‘unlawful’ protests, the group said no such law could be passed because it would contradict the provisions of the constitution.
“Nobody can criminalise protest because the constitution allows it. I can tell you that any such law will be null and void because of its contradiction to the Constitution.
“Protest is a democratic right across the world and I am sure that Nigerians are waiting for the Bill to be thrown into the dustbin of history,” Adenola stated
