Sowore: Presidency’s statement unfortunate ― Afenifere

Pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere on Sunday described the statement issued by the Presidency in reaction to the failed attempts by operatives of Directorate of State Service (DSS) to rearrest publisher of SaharaReporters inside the Abuja court last Friday as unfortunate, saying it was a sign Nigerians needed to know that the country had slipped into the abyss of totalitarian rule.

Afenifere said this in a statement made available to newsmen in Lagos by its spokesperson, Mr Yinka Odumakin, contending that a ruly democratic regime would have condemned the barbaric conduct of the DSS in court on Friday with a promise to investigate it.

According to the group, this presidency ignored what it described as the sacrilege of discretion of the temple and went after Sowore whom it described as a ‘person of interest to the DSS, querying whether it occurred to the Presidency that what DSS did that fateful Friday was a coup against the judiciary and worse than the unstaged revolution of Sowore.

“If there is any sign Nigerians need to know that the country has slipped into the abyss of totalitarian rule, it is the unfortunate statement by the Presidency on Sowore.

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“A truly democratic regime would have. condemned the barbaric. conduct of the DSS in court on Friday with a promise to investigate it.

“But this Presidency ignored the sacrilege of discretion of the temple and went after Sowore whom it describes as a ‘person of interest’ to the Gestapo. Does it occur to them what DSS did on Friday was a coup against the judiciary and worse than the unstaged revolution of Sowore?” Afenifere said.

The Pan-Yoruba group argued that the statement by the Presidency showed that President Muhammadu Buhari administration was far too gone in its way of riding roughshod over all that the citizens held dear as a nation.

It warned that Nigeria may well be resting in pieces in the grip of dictatorship and arbitrariness if the citizens failed to assert constitutionalism with all peaceful and democratic requirements, adding: “To see our Presidency patronising Boko Haram in the context of Sowore galls and stinks to high heaven.”