Sowore: Buhari Frets As United States, Others Pile Pressure

FG May Lose Trump’s Support Against Boko Haram

By Fola James

The trenchant criticism of President Muhammadu Buhari’s government over the re-arrest of Omoyele Sowore has hit the roof as the United States of America, USA State Department has joined the fray.

On Sunday, Sowore’s mother burst into tears while appealing to President Buhari to release his son, as he’s not a troublemaker.

She begged the Buhari’s administration to have mercy on his son who has spent a better part of this year in the custody of DSS.

His wife and children have passed through deep anguish over his incarceration, therefore, denying him the opportunity to spend the holiday with them will be unbearable, the mother said.

A US senator had earlier took the government to the cleaners after the publisher of Sahara Reporters was re-arrested last week at the court premises in Lagos by Department of State Services, DSS officials.

But the federal Government on Sunday said there was nothing wrong with the action of the secret police, insisting that the journalist cum politician will soon be charged for terrorism.

In a post on Twitter on Sunday, the State Department tweeting @StateDRL, said, the United States’ government is deeply worried that President Buhari’s government has failed to respect the rule of law over the Sowore’s issue, particularly after the court has ordered his release.

Disrespect to court order is a threat to the sustenance of Nigeria’s burgeoning democracy, the Donald Trump administration said.

“We are deeply concerned that #Sowore has been re-detained in #Nigeria shortly after a court ordered he be released on bail.

“Respect for rule of law, judicial independence, political and media freedom, and due process are key tenets of #democracy.

The US State Department’s position followed similar condemnation by top American lawmakers like Cory Booker and Bob Menendez, who both called for the respect of Sowore’s rights and his immediate release.

Meanwhile, the Presidency has thrown its weight behind the DSS, warning that it would not allow the breakdown of law and order in the country.

Presidential spokesman, Mallam Garba Shehu, in a statement, defended DSS for doing their job, insisting that they do not require any clearance from President Buhari before carrying out their operations, contrary to the claims of critics.

He explained that no government will allow anyone to throw the country into chaos, adding that that’s exactly what Sowore did August 3, after the Convener of Revolution Now, called on Nigerians to embark of massive civil unrest against President Buhari’s government.

“He did so, on television, and from a privileged position as the owner of a widely read digital newspaper run from the United States of America.

He founded an organisation, Revolution Now, to launch, in their own words, “Days of Rage,” with the publicised purpose of fomenting mass civil unrest and the elected administration’s overthrow.

No government will allow anybody to openly call for destabilisation in the country and do nothing,” he said.

Meanwhile, Afenifere, a pan Yoruba political group, Ijaw Youth Congress, Professor Wole Soyinka and others have flayed federal government’s support for DSS.

Critics of the government told the magazine that the federal government will be very careful the way it handles the matter now that the US has waded in.

This has become so, they said, because the government could not afford to lose the support of President Trump over violation of human rights which that government takes seriously.