The driver of the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, has narrated how his boss got arrested early Saturday m
The driver of the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, has narrated how his boss got arrested early Saturday morning. Security agents believed to be personnel of the State Security Service (SSS), earlier today, arrested Omoyele Sowore, the publisher of the news website, SaharaReporters and pro-democracy activist and the convener of #RevolutionNow Protests.
In a social media post, the driver, who refused to disclose his identity, said Sowore was picked up in a gestapo manner.
“At around past 1am, the armed men knocked on the door. I noticed immediately that these knocks were strange. And didn’t open. I looked and I saw men armed to the teeth,” he wrote.
“They started forcing their way in like armed robbers. But I knew they were DSS men, knowing fully well the attention RevolutionNow has garnered. Sowore wanted to open at first but I immediately told him who they are. He retreated and like magic, he was not in the room when they forced their way in, 8 of them. That was when he managed to tweet. By this time, I had been beaten and handcuffed. Phones were snatched from me. An order to block all exits came from the leader when Sowore was not found inside. He was later arrested at the gym in a gestapo manner and dragged after a bit altercation.”
Narrating how he rushed to pick Sowore’s car when the cuffs were off his hands, the driver said the security operatives later threatened to shoot him for trying to prevent Sowore’s arrest.
“I quickly seized that opportunity to drive his car to block their SIENNA and Hilux they came in. They hit the Lexus Jeep like kidnappers would do to make way for themselves. I followed them immediately till we got to CMD road around Ketu when one of them came down from the SIENNA and corked his gun, threatening to shoot me. I had to escape at that point,” he wrote.
The publisher’s lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, later posted on Facebook, “Mr Omoyele Sowore is currently in the custody of the SSS. His phones have been confiscated. This is a panic response from a decayed regime that is so sacred of its own shadow.
“Buhari’s despotism is now in full force. Nigerians are now preoccupied with the shenanigans of a morally bankrupt, economically backward and politically inept administration.
“The SSS which is supposed to be actively involved in curtailing insecurity across Nigeria has been turned into a tool of intimidation for a corrupt, clueless and incompetent government. Let it be known that this irresponsible and highly reckless action will not deter conscientious and enlightened Nigerians from fighting for a better country. The #RevolutionNow Movement has come to stay and no dictator can stop it.”
Mr Sowore was the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) during the 2019 general elections. He was also the leader of #Take It Back, a political movement which says it wants to rescue Nigeria from corruption and misgovernance. Mr Sowore’s activism began while he was a student of geography at the University of Lagos. He later led the Student Union in that university.
