It’s wrong for FG to stigmatise its citizens —Abayomi

The presidency was recently quoted to have accused the convener of RevolutionNow, Omoyele Sowore, of trying to cause crisis after losing an election. Do you see Sowore’s re-arrest by the Department of the Security Service (DSS) as something done within the confines of the law?

I don’t think so. The government’s responsibility is to protect lives. It is expected of all responsible government. However, a government should not be anxious to stigmatise its citizen as an enemy. That is exactly what the government is doing but it’s unnecessary. That is my position.

The DSS claimed that it re-arrested Sowore because he faulted one of his bail conditions which banned him from addressing the press. What do you have to say on the issue?

It is not their responsibility to execute the law. First and foremost, there is no complete court by the prosecutor. If the prosecutor is of the view that there is a violation of the terms of bail, he will lodge a formal complaint to court and the court will act by making further order. As it is now, the DSS is essentially taking the law into its own hands. Basically, the DSS is acting outside the control of the law and I think it is unfortunate.

Then, what is your view on the recent invasion of the court proceedings by the DSS operatives?

To me, the excesses on the part of the DSS are extravagant and ought not to be entertained at the moment. The reason is very simple: the court is sacred in a democracy. What the DSS is basically doing is to put itself higher than the institutions that are much more important as if the nation is governed by power not by law.

The presidency claimed the DSS was acting within its constitutional powers and duties of guiding the country against chaos by re-arresting Sowore. How true is this?

The DSS can re-arrest Sowore but it must be on a new charge. There is arguably no law that stops the operatives from re-arresting Sowore provided there is a legitimate ground to do so. But in this case, the DSS reason for re-arresting Sowore is tied to the very reason for which he was granted bail. And this alone faulted the re-arrest as it is an error. All that The DSS has been doing is to justify the unjustifiable.

What is the implication of the increasing cases of disregards for court orders by the present federal administration?

It is actually a difficult thing. There are some cases that pose huge difficult. I think Sowore’s saga is one of those cases because the government will want to be sure there is no continued danger to the state. Ultimately, we want to ensure that the country is safe. So, this poses some difficulty. But where that happened, the proper thing to do is for the government to go back to the court and present its case instead of forcing its interest on the masses and disobeying the court orders.

The US government recently commented on the cases of human rights violations, with the presidency responding that Nigeria is a sovereign state and does not need to be told how to run its government. What is your take on this?

Truly, Nigeria is a sovereign state. But the issue of human rights violations is not limited by geographical boundaries. It is about humanity. So you cannot be violating the rights of people, and yet, be insisting that you are a sovereign nation. That is why we talk of the universal deal of rights which was adopted at a meeting in 1948. There were sovereign states when it was adopted.