The Department of State Services (DSS) has denied arresting convener
of RevolutionNow Movement Omoyele Sowore inside Abuja Federal High Court
room.
DSS was reacting to reports that its operatives on Friday chased out lawyers from the courtroom and attacked journalists after which they re-arrested Sowore.
Following the invasion of the courtroom, the trial judge, Justice
Ijeoma Ojukwu adjourned the matter till February 11, 12 and 13 for
definite hearing.
Reacting, a statement signed by its spokesperson, Peter Afunanya,
stated that the activist’s supporters were only acting an “orchestrated
drama” inside the court.
It claimed that none of its officers involved in the incidents recorded in the courtroom.
The statement reads, “It has become important that the Department of
State Services responds to the serial misinformation being circulated in
the media about its involvement in the incident that occurred on 6th
December, 2019 at the Federal High Court, Abuja,” the statement read.
“It is instructive to note that during the court proceeding of the
day under reference, Defence Counsel, Femi FALANA (SAN), called the
attention of the Judge to a suspicion that the Service was planning to
re-arrest Omoyele SOWORE immediately after the court session. The Court
discountenanced his alarm and asserted that the Service was law abiding
and would not engage in such and subsequently adjourned to February,
2020.
“However, when SOWORE stepped out of the court and sighted operatives
of the Service within the premises, he ran back into the courtroom. In a
bid to shield him from an imaginary arrest, his uncontrollable
supporters mobbed him while chanting ‘you can’t arrest him’ thus the
pandemonium that ensued.
“A critical look at the videos in circulation would convince any
objective viewer that there was no DSS personnel during the entire
period the Sowore crowd acted out its orchestrated drama. Its personnel
were never, at any time, involved in the incident.”