admin
The Department of State
Services (DSS) has reacted to the palpable outrage among Nigerians who were
treated to video clips that tended to the absurd, as men alleged to be
operatives of the DSS invaded a Court house in Abuja, the Federal Capital
Territory.
The Nigerian secret police has however
called on Nigerians to discountenance the video and actors as the entire
episode was premeditated and orchestrated to cast the service in bad light.
Hereunder is a text of the press
statement issued by the DSS, as obtained by
crimefacts.news:
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.
Eye witness and several media
accounts have disclosed that the Court had adjourned peacefully without an
untoward incident when suddenly the unruly crowd imported into the Courtroom
went into frenzy on the mere suspicion that DSS was sighted at the court
premises. The eventual re-arrest of Sowore by the DSS was effected outside the
courtroom. His lead counsel has affirmed this.
The DSS, 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.
The Service holds the judiciary in utmost respect and will continue to work
with it for national peace and public safety in Nigeria.
It has therefore become unarguable
and raises a moral question as to who, between Sowore and the Service, dislikes
or disobeys the Courts. In this regard, public attention may be drawn to the
25th July 2019 statement of SOWORE that “I’m not talking of protest. I’m
embarking on revolution… Don’t tell me about legal implications or what a Judge
will say. I don’t care …” On 5th December when SOWORE was released, he had, at
the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja addressed a group of persons who, he
reassured of his cause to create anarchy in the country.
It may be recalled that the Service
had on 3rd December, 2019 raised alarm about a plot to destabilize the country.
It is quite remarkable that the plot has already started playing out. To ensure
this objective is further achieved, some persons and groups are scurrying to
seize the opportunity of the misleading court incident and the wrong narrative
against the DSS to organize an insurrection in the country. They have continued
to falsely curry and mobilize international sentiments and attention, through
clear misrepresentation of the facts, for their selfish ends.
For emphasis, it should be noted
that Sowore is facing trial not as an activist, journalist or a politician, but
for his resort to call for violence, forceful takeover of government and
suspected transnational illegal activities. It is most unfortunate that Sowore,
shortly after being released from custody, based on court order, resorted to
acts inimical to security. To this effect, only Sowore has been re-arrested as his
co-defendant, Olawale Bakare, was not picked up even when Femi Falana had
promised to deliver him to the Service that is not presently interested in him.
Though sections of the populace have
been fed with spurious narratives about these developments, Nigerians and the
International Community should not be gullible or even vulnerable to the
machinations of groups desirous of misleading them.
The Service is committed to the
discharge of its mandate of detecting and preventing threats against the
internal security of Nigeria. It supports democracy in the country and will do
all that is legal to protect it. It will also ensure that efforts of
anti-democratic forces are frustrated.
Peter Afunanya, Ph.D
Public Relations Officer,
Department of State Services,
National Headquarters,
Abuja. Xonata AI
