Govt critic, Frank, asks Nigeria’s secret police to prove strangers sponsoring #RevolutionNow

A former deputy national publicity secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Timi Frank, has called on Nigeria’s secret police (the Department of State Security (DSS)) to prove claim that Nigerians abroad and foreign collaborators were allegedly sponsoring the #RevolutionNow protest.

The DSS had on Saturday arrested the convener of #RevolutionNow, Omoyele Sowore, and alleged that some people abroad were behind the protest, planned for Monday.

But in a statement on Monday, the former deputy spokesman of APC and political activist challenged the DSS to make public the list of the sponsors or stop discrediting Nigerians.

“I challenge the DSS to bring out proof that some people abroad are sponsoring Omoyele Sowore’s #RevolutionNow protest. The current development has simply shown that the APC government is not used to democratic system of governance hence the fear it continues to create in the mind of Nigerians,” he said.

According to Frank, the DSS should learn from the case of former National Security Adviser (NSA), Sambo Dasuki, who had power to arrest anybody then but now in detention.

He added, “The DSS authorities should stay off politics and stop blackmailing innocent Nigerians for demanding for their rights.

“If there is anybody breaking the laws of the Federation by their actions it is the present administration and its officials who have no respect for the rule of law nor obey simple court orders.

“Where is the DSS’s intelligence that shows that some people are sponsoring the group? If the DSS is so sure of its assertions and not playing the script of the APC’s administration, the secret police should make public the names of the alleged sponsors.

“Nigerians and the whole world now know clearly that the current panic stricken administration is not tolerant and it has just scored own goal by arresting a leader of a civil group demanding good governance without violence or any dangerous weapon.

“The current insecurity, hunger, parlous economy, unmitigated unemployment and disregard for the rule of law under this government has worsen to the extent that Nigerians would not need anybody to pay them before they come out on the streets to protest against bad governance being perpetuated by the APC.

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“What happened in 2014 was not up to this level before Nigerians came out enmass under former President Goodluck Jonathan and the then administration didn’t accuse or arrest anybody. The General Muhammadu Buhari-led APC should learn to be tolerant.”

Despite the arrest of Sowore, his group still went on with the planned protest on Monday with police arresting a number of protesters.

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