DSS shopping for evidence to nail Sowore —Afenifere

The Pan Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, on Thursday, expressed doubt in Nigerian judiciary as a Federal High Court in Abuja granted the Department of State Security an order to detain Omoyele Sowore, the Presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), for 45 days.

Afenifere in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Yinka Odumakin, alluded to a legal rigmarole in DSS securing a court order for the continued detention of Sowore.

According to him, “The order represents a new phase in the orchestrated conscription of the democratic space in Nigeria.”

The statement read: “Sowore was arrested before he could commit an offence and the DSS seems to want to go shopping for evidence to prosecute him.

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“We are aware of that obnoxious provision in the Terrorism Act, but it can never assume superiority over the Constitution which stipulates that a citizen cannot be detained for more than 48 hours before being charged to court.

“Having failed to allow him to commit the offense before he was peremptorily arrested, the DSS should free Sowore or charge him to court so that the judicial process can take its course.

“As it is, he is only being held illegally using the legal process.

“The government should understand and act in conformity with the democratic tenets in dealing with the rights of Nigerians.”

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