Inside Nigeria
Sowore’s Wife Laments as Her Husband’s Unlawful Arrest goes Global
Wife of Omoyele Sowore, Mrs Ope Sowore, has prompted the President to release her husband to the family.
She said she had no clear roadmap on how to handle the situation but that she had sent appeals to the United Nations and had been working with Amnesty International and many other organisations to help raise awareness and “hopefully help to secure the release” of her husband.
Officials of the Department of State Services had on Friday invaded the Federal High Court in Abuja to rearrest Sowore, who was released alongside his co-defendant, Olawale Bakare, on Thursday after they had spent over three months in the DSS custody.
The DSS had also defied the court order that granted them bail, even after meeting their bail conditions and in spite of several appeals and protests to secure their release.
Sowore was arrested on August 3, 2019 over a planned protest, which he tagged ‘RevolutionNow’. The DSS accused him of planning to overthrow the government with his planned protest, the basis upon which he had been detained.
Meanwhile, less than 24 hours after they were released, Sowore was rearrested by about 15 DSS officials after the close of Friday’s proceedings, which the judge, Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu, had adjourned till February 11.
Before the fresh arrest, a stampede occurred as Sowore and his supporters tried to resist the officials of the DSS. The ensued commotion made court officials, lawyers, journalists and others to run for safety. The development disrupted the proceedings, which Justice Ojukwu was conducting after Sowore’s case was adjourned.
The judge was therefore forced to suspend sitting, directing that the remaining cases on her list for the day be adjourned.
Speaking to one of our correspondents on the telephone on Friday, Sowore’s wife said, “I’m concerned about what happened to my husband. It’s less than 24 hours that the Nigerian government has basically turned around and shown a gross abuse of power. I am praying and hoping that it will be resolved so that he can come home to meet me and the children.
“No clear roadmap or script on how to handle a situation like this. The reason why there is rule of law is because it protects people’s basic rights and the fact that Buhari and the DSS have refused to do that is a matter of great concern.
“We are currently working with many international organisations to help advocate on his behalf and we have sent several urgent appeals to the United Nations.”
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Sowore, in an interview with Channels Television during the invasion, alleged that the DSS invasion was an attempt to kill him, but that he would not give up.
He said, “It might be my only word on the record before they kill me; this is an attempt to assassinate me in court. They came with guns and they tried to shoot and they dragged me down in front of a judge after I had been granted bail.
“I said it yesterday (Thursday) that these are a set of lawless people and that they were reluctant to respect the order of the court. Now they have shown it to the whole world. What is important for Nigerians to know is that I am not going to give up until every Nigerian benefits from a country that is theirs and I made it very clear to them.
“They tried to break me in prison; they sent delegations to me, offering all kinds of things but I refused and they promised that I would not walk out of detention alive. That was what they came here (the court) to implement today.
“Nobody in Nigeria should be afraid; it is our country and some people have to make the sacrifice for this country to be a country of rule, law and dignity and this also involves judges. If suspects who have been given bail are not safe, then the judges themselves are not safe and that was why the judge had to retire hurriedly into her chambers.”
Speaking on the development, Sowore’s lawyer, Mr Femi Falana (SAN), described it as a “horrendous, bizarre and barbaric contempt of court” never witnessed under “even the most brutal of past dictators that had ever ruled Nigeria.”
He added, “Under the military regime, the so-called enemies of the government would not be arrested in the web of the court which is considered a sanctuary. The military regimes would always show some respect for the court and would only arrest after the person left the court premises. What we have witnessed today is alien to Nigeria.”
Falana said at a meeting which Justice Ojukwu called to be held in her chambers with him and the prosecuting counsel, Hassan Liman (SAN), the judge “expressed dismay” over the development as she said “she was made to flee her court”.
Meanwhile, Falana said he had not been informed about the reason for his client’s rearrest, adding that his legal team would meet Saturday to determine the next line of action.
Dr Hassan Liman (SAN), hired by the Federal Government to prosecute Sowore, has said he was not aware of the basis for the rearrest of Sowore.
Responding to Saturday PUNCH’s enquiry more than eight hours after the incident happened, Liman said he was not aware of any plan to institute fresh charges against Sowore.
He said, “I am not aware of any plan to file fresh charges against Mr Sowore. I am not aware of the basis for the fresh arrest, but I believe the Service (DSS) will address that accordingly.”
There was outrage on Friday by prominent Nigerians, civil society organisations, human rights activists and many others over the invasion of the court by DSS men. In their respective reactions, they said the invasion was an attack on the rule of law and the sanctity of the nation’s justice system.
Nobel laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to control the excesses of DSS officers, whom he described as the President’s ‘dogs of disobedience.’
Soyinka, who spoke in a statement titled ‘Lessons from the African wild dog (Lycaeon Pictus)’, while reacting to Friday’s court invasion by the DSS to rearrest Sowore, said, “Soyinka noted, “It has become imperative and urgent to send this message to President-General Buhari: Rein in your wild dogs of disobedience. And for a start, get a trainer to teach them some basic court manners!”
The essayist and social critic in a symbolic analogy said a few years ago, he watched the video of a pack of the famed African wild dogs hunt, which eventually brought down, and proceeded to devour a quarry.
He added, “It was an impala, antelope family. The pack isolated the most vulnerable looking member of the herd–it was pregnant-pursued it until it fled to a waterhole which, for such animals, is the nearest thing to a sanctuary.
“A few minutes ago, almost as it was happening, I watched the video of a pack of the DSS, bring down, and fight over their unarmed, totally defenceless quarry within the sanctuary of a court of law. I found little or no difference between the two scenarios, except that the former, the wild dogs, exhibited more civilised table manners than the DSS in court manners.”
Former Vice-President and presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the 2019 elections, in a statement titled, ‘Without Rule of Law, There Cannot Be Rule At All’ said never in the history of the country’s democracy had a judge been treated in such a “disdainful and brazen attack, not just on her person and office, but on the judiciary.”
He added, “This is unacceptable. It is a rape on the sanctity of the court. We are a democracy, no matter how inconvenient this fact is to the powers that have forced themselves on us. I call for an immediate inquiry to be set up to identify those responsible for the maltreatment meted out to Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu and the desecration of her court, and indeed the Nigerian judiciary.”
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A corps member identified as Princess Odume, was on Monday arrested by the Akwa Ibom police command for the murder of a yet-to-be-identified man.
The young woman, who is said to be a graduate of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State, was stripped naked by neighbours of the victim who caught her trying to skip the fence with a machete.
The Akwa Ibom Police Public Relations Officer, Odiko Ogbeche-Macdon confirmed the victim was the alleged murderer’s lover.
He also said, “The police are investigating. The police have her in custody, she committed the act, but as I speak, an investigation is ongoing as to how and why she did it.”
A House On The Rock pastor, Adeyinka Akinbami(61), lost his life to COVID-19 on Friday, the 8th of January, 2021.
The Senior Pastor, of the church, Paul Adefarasin, urged Nigerians to adhere to the COVID-19 protocols.
“Yesterday (Friday), I received the rude and shocking news of someone deeply dear to me and all of the HOTR family. The passing of Pastor Yinka Akinbami has become most painful because if there truly were good men, he was certainly one. To my brother, sleep well till we meet to part no more.
“Family, kindly allow me to solicit your intercession for his dear wife of over 30 years; Pastor Tolu, his children, his children-in-law, and grandchildren. We can only at best imagine how much pain they are feeling. We share the pain of his loss but they will feel it a lot more.
“It’s important to remind the community about the deadly nature of the COVID-19 and its mutant virus strains. Please do your part by following all the recommended precautions. That way, you are able to protect yourself and others who become proximal to you. God bless and keep us all”, Adefarasin Tweeted.
The Channels news staffer Pius Angbo-seen in this picture battered his wife, who went public with the beating. In her own words, the woman had these to say:-
”Hello people, my name is Ifeyinwa. I am a doctor. I have been married to Pius Angbo of Channels TV for six years, and for six years, I have not known peace in this marriage. It’s been from one woman to another.
I just had baby. It was a Caesarian section just about 4 weeks ago. Just because I told him to spend wisely and not on women so recklessly considering we have four children, that is why I got this beating. He tried to strangle me and all that, sat on my incision, the children were crying.
When I was pregnant with this child, when the pregnancy was three months, it was the same thing. He would sit on my stomach. hit me, try to strangle me and all that”
Pius Angbo
As the outcry over the beating gathered momentum, a sitting State Governor called for a truce between husband and wife. Now, you can see husband and wife hugging it out.
Pius Angbo should be arrested and face the full wrath of the law for causing his wife such bodily harm. As shown in those pictures, the beating went too far, and because Ifeaniyiwa had a cesarian operation four weeks ago, the man almost killed her. The matter should not be swept under the carpet.
The next time around, the woman may not be alive to tell her story. Her case represents a tiny fraction of what everyday Nigerian woman is facing. I spoke with the Lagos State Police PRO and waits to talk with the Commissioner of Police very shortly, concerning this matter. More updates will be made public.
AGU is Nigerian-American International award wining musician, song writer and Producer/ publisher.
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