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Calls for Immediate Release of Activist
- Safiu Kehinde
The National Labour Congress (NLC) has called for the immediate and unconditional release of human rights activist, Omoyele Sowore, from police detention.
NLC charged the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to explore all available legal options rather than resorting to assault against the activist.
NPO Reported that Sowore had yesterday appeared at the Force Headquarters in Abuja following summon by the Inspector General of Police’s Monitoring Unit.
The invitation was reportedly based on a petition filed against him.
Recall that IGP, Kayode Egbetokun, had sued Sowore to court for cyber stalking and false publication over his label of the Police Chief as Illegal IGP.
The activist who arrived at the Force Headquarters with a travelling containing essential items in anticipation for likely detention was eventually detained.
With recent report of violent assault on the Sahara Reporters publisher, which left his hand broken, the NLC condemned the detention of Sowore.
The congress in a statement issued on Thursday challenged the IGP to embrace legal action.
It charged the government to respect citizens’ freedom of speech and association, stressing that Nigeria cannot be taken back to the dark days of dictatorship.
The NLC expressed its solidarity with Sowore who the union described as a moral compass that should not be treated with levity.
The statement read: “We strongly condemn the frequent arrest and long spells in detention of Sowore, a renowned civil rights activist. It is all the more unacceptable if he was injured in the course of his arrest as it is being alleged.
“If Sowore has offended any big man or woman in government or has in any way offended the law, they should be bold enough to explore the legal options available such as going to court, but certainly not to resort to this level of harassment.
“How many times has Sowore been arrested this year alone?
“Freedom of speech and freedom of association are some of inalienable rights guaranteed by our constitution and it is only fit and proper that the government is seen to respect these citizen-rights.
“The NLC warns that silence in the face of such repression is complicity. If the state can arbitrarily detain Sowore today, no journalist, no trade unionist, no activist, and no ordinary citizen is safe tomorrow.
“We cannot allow Nigeria to slide back into the dark days of dictatorship, where fear replaces freedom and dissent is met with brute force.
“It soils the image of the government before its citizens and the international community when it behaves in a way that suggests that it is above the law.
“We are duty-bound to not only alert the nation to the inherent dangers of government observing these rights in breach but to point out the consequences of an observance in breach.
“Government like all the other citizens should be law-abiding not when it suits it but unconditionally.
“Irrespective what anyone may think, Sowore has become a moral compass we can ill-afford to treat with levity.
“Accordingly, we demand therefore; the immediate and unconditional release of Omoyele Sowore; an end to the harassment and intimidation of activists and all voices of dissent; full adherence to the rule of law and constitutional guarantees of free speech and assembly.
“The NLC stands in solidarity with all victims of repression and reaffirms its commitment to defending the rights of the working class and the oppressed. Nigeria should not descend into a police state.”