As condemnation from within and outside Nigeria continue to greet the arrest and detention of the Publisher of Sahara Reporters, Mr. Omoloye Sowore following the convention of the #Revolution Now protest, the lawmaker representing Obio/Akpor Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Kingsley Ogundu Chinda has called for his unconditional release.
In a press statement signed and made available to journalists on Monday, the lawmaker said the continued detention of Mr. Sowore negates the principle of rule of law and civilized democracy.
He regretted that the Presidential Candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) who was reportedly abducted from his Lagos home at about 1.25 a.m. on Saturday, August 3, 2019 by heavily armed operatives of the Department of State Service (DSS) was arrested for expressing genuine concern over the dwindling fortunes of the nation.
“This government, consistently and persistently has shown her clear lack of foresight and political will to resolve the problems and set the country on the path of progress and prosperity. This palpable show of hopelessness and helplessness on the part of government has deepened the pervasive grievances amongst the population”, Chinda cried out.
Decrying the calamity that had become of the nation, the lawmaker noted that there is no part of the country that is safe, adding that the economy is always getting better only ‘on paper’ but worse in reality.
“Our political relevance in the comity of nations is speedily dwindling as Nigeria is seen as democratic joke and an example of the negativities in democratic practice and rule of law”, he observed.
He urged the Buhari-led federal government now to cow pro-democracy actions but rather open up the shrinking civil spaces through patriotic, constitutional and peaceful engagements which, he said, other democracies in Africa and the wider world are encouraging.
“If the Sowore and hordes of his ‘Revolution Now’ movement protesters, driven by non-partisan and patriotic zeal, had offered to widen the shrinking civic space through non-violent actions, they should be protected by the State to do so, and not this undemocratic and unlawful man-hunt, branding their actions as mutinous”, he stated.
The lawmaker further noted that Sowore, even during the dreaded military dictatorships in the country, defied the consequences and participated in non-violent protests alongside other activists like himself, adding that those non-violent protests led to the birth of the fourth republic democracy.
“Why has all these suddenly become a crime against the State today when our laws are still the same?” he asked, warning that this consistent, undemocratic, unconstitutional, primitive and unpatriotic acts of the government is likely to explode as according to him, “he who makes peaceful change impossible, makes violent change inevitable”.
The lawmaker urged the government to respect the constitution as well as other international laws by releasing Sowore immediately and unconditionally.
