We did not invade courtroom to arrest Sowore- DSS

 

  Department of State Services (DSS), has said it never invaded court room at the Federal High Court in Abuja to arrest #RevolutionNow Convener, Omoyele Sowore. It said the incident on Friday was orchestrated for the purpose of propaganda and to bring the Service to disrepute.

  A statement by the Public Relations Officer of the National Headquarters of the DSS in Abuja, Dr Peter Afunanya, said the agency, as a professional, responsible and law abiding organization, could not have invaded a courtroom including the one presided over by a respected Judge who is not only handling its case but whose order was unconditionally obeyed within a 24 hour ultimatum. This is coming as the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has asked the federal government to arrest and prosecute officials of the DSS who re-arrested Sowore, at a federal high court, Abuja, on Friday.

  The DSS in its statement said, “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. 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. In actual fact, it was his people who seized him. And from the latest developments, it has become obvious what the intent for such mischief was meant for – simply to serve a propagandist purpose as well as bring the Service to disrepute.”

However, the NHRC in a statement by its Executive Secretary, Tony Ojukwu, said it was dismayed by the “conduct of law enforcement officers at the Federal High Court Abuja and reiterates its earlier statement emphasising the need for law enforcement officials to understand that to qualify as law enforcement agents, they must first of all be law-abiding and not be above the law.”

THE NATION