A witness has narrated how operatives of Nigeria’s secret police, the SSS, arrested Omoyele Sowore, a Nigerian newspaper publisher and activist.
Mr Sowore was arrested in Lagos at about 1:30 a.m. Saturday, according to a terse message on his Twitter handle.
The arrest comes barely two days before a planned nationwide protest to demand a revolution in Nigeria, where citizens have long expressed frustration amidst acute insecurity and worsening poverty.
Mr Sowore had teamed up with a network of other pro-democracy activists across the country to spur citizens into a national procession of rage across 21 cities.
The demonstration, tagged #RevolutionNow, had been planned to kick-off on August 5, and Mr Sowore and other organisers vowed they would not back down until a discernible change had been made to Nigeria’s power structure.
PREMIUM TIMES has reached the SSS for comments about Mr Sowore’s whereabouts and official allegations against him.
An associate of Mr Sowore who said he witnessed the arrest narrated what transpired on WhatsApp, which was later shared on Twitter by Deji Adeyanju, a political activist based in Abuja.
The identity of the associate was not immediately clear, but the person’s WhatsApp handle is ‘SUG Leader Lagos.’ Mr Adeyanju did not immediately return requests seeking clarification about the witness’ real name.
The witness, who described himself as a driver of Mr Sowore, said it was after 1:00 a.m. that men bearing arms knocked on the door.
“I noticed immediately that these knocks were strange. And didn’t open. I looked and I saw men armed to the teeth. They started forcing their way in like armed robbers,” he said.
He said he immediately recognised the men were from the SSS and was not surprised, “knowing fully well the attention RevolutionNow has garnered.”
He said Mr Sowore tried to open the door at first, “but I immediately told him who they are.” The activist then “retreated and like magic,” the eight armed SSS operatives forced their way in afterwards.
