The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has condemned the re-arrest of the convener of #RevolutionNow, Omoyele Sowore, and his co-defendant, Olawale Bakare, by the Department of State Security Services (DSS) at a Federal High Court in Abuja.
PDP stated that the invasion of the sanctity of the court by operatives of the DSS further confirmed that Nigeria, under President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, has started sliding into a frightening dictatorship.
The party in a statement through its spokesman, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, said that the invasion of the court is a vindication of its earlier stand that the nation is no longer governed by democratic principles of the rule of law and dictates of the constitution.
The statement read: “Today, the world watched with shock as operatives of the Presidency-controlled DSS, in a most horrific manner, swooped on the court, held the judiciary to ransom, disrupted proceedings, scared away the judge, chased away lawyers and journalists, attacked and re-arrested persons standing trial within the precincts of the court, in a manner that can only be obtainable in Idi Amin’s Uganda.
“The invasion is a forceful suspension of our constitutional order and a further battering of the judiciary, which points to an emerging lawlessness that can only find space in a military regime.
“Without prejudice to the charge against the Convener of the #Revolution Now movement, Mr. Omoyele Sowore, the PDP holds that, in a normal democracy, it is the duty of the court to determine the fate of an accused, according to the laws and not a resort to brute force by the government to silence persons with dissenting voices.
“Our party notes that such a violation, as embarrassingly witnessed in the Abuja court this weekend, is a direct invitation to anarchy and a huge threat to the unity, peace, stability and corporate existence of our nation and the safety of our citizens.
“Indeed, this is not the Nigeria our citizens yearn for and it is imperative to restate that Nigeria, under the Buhari Presidency, is fast sliding into a dark country where, laws are suspended, the judiciary is assaulted and citizens are stripped of their fundamental rights.”
Leave a Reply