The Department of State Service (DSS) has confirmed that the Presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in the last general election, Omoyele Sowore, is in their custody, over his planned protest on Monday, which the secret police said is a threat to public safety, peace, security and social harmony in the country.
Briefing newsmen at the DSS headquarters in Abuja on Sunday, the Public Relations Officer of the Service, Peter Afunanya, said that the Federal Government will not sit by a watch an individual or group of individuals threaten the nation with terrorism, sabotage and subversion.
Sowore was arrested on Saturday morning in Lagos and over his planned “Revolution Now” nationwide protest. He has been reportedly brought to Abuja.
Afunanya noted that the DSS is a responsible security and intelligence agency adding that in a democracy and it adheres strictly to the fundamental principles and tenets of democracy.
“The DSS as we are all aware is charged primarily with the detection and prevention of crimes and threats against the internal security of Nigeria and fundamentally more importantly, the service is also charged with the responsibility of managing, containing, curtailing, eliminating threats against the national security of Nigeria.”
He added that Sowore’s planned action constituted serious threats, which include ” threats of sabotage, threats of subversion, threats of terrorism and of course, threats of espionage and all others including ethnic agitations, economic sabotage and all of that.
“Now, if we are operating as a responsible security organisation and someone is calling for revolution in Nigeria, and what is revolution? Primarily, it means a revolt, it means an insurrection, it means insurgency, it means forceful takeover of government and this is a democracy, Nigeria operates a democratic system, Nigeria, we all are aware is not a banana republic and cannot suddenly be made one. Nigeria is respected in the comity of nations.
“Nigeria is not just the giant of Africa, it is the pride of Africa and so, the DSS will not just sit by and watch someone or his group or cohorts would want to rise and threaten the peace, unity, constitutionalism of our beloved country. Whether Sowore is with the DSS or not, the answer is in the affirmative, he is with us. And why is he with us? He has crossed the lines, he has threatened public safety, Sowore has as a matter of fact, threatened the peaceful coexistence, social harmony of Nigeria and there is apprehension, there is anxiety, citizens’ residents are worried as to what will happen next.
“We want to use this opportunity to assure law abiding Nigerians, friends of Nigeria, citizens of the world and indeed people of the world that come tomorrow 5th of August, 2019, that there will be absolute peace in Nigeria, nothing will happen, there won’t be any revolution, the government has been elected democratically will be in place. There would not be any forceful takeover of government and the DSS will not stand by and see self serving people take laws into their hands; we will do what is necessary within the law to discharge our responsibility and ensure that there is peace in Nigeria beyond tomorrow.
“One of the highlights of democratic governance is periodic elections, if any persons who had contested in an election didn’t succeed, all you need do is to go back, rework your system and strategy and wait for another election. I want to limit the DSS to issues of public safety, to issues the constitution has enabled us to ensure and protect the internal security of Nigeria, and we will do that. It is not in doubt that we will do it, we will do it today, we will do it tomorrow, and we will do it forever, as long as the entity Nigeria remains. We will discharge our responsibility with utmost responsibility.
“We are calling on all people of good conscience to disregard the calls for revolution tomorrow and ever to support the state and Nigerian. People should go about their normal business we want to reiterate that come tomorrow and in fact, beyond tomorrow, that there won’t be anything like a revolution and we will work with all stakeholders to ensure that peace is maintained in every corner of Nigeria.
“We want to reemphasize that the plot by some self seeking individuals and groups to cause a breakdown of law and order, cause disruption of social and economic services, dislocate publications, make our children stay away from schools, make markets not to open that will not be tolerated,” the spokesman man said.
Innocent Odoh, Abuja
