Sahara Reporters Latest News Monday 5th August 2019

Sahara Reporters Latest News Monday 5th August 2019

Sahara Reporters Latest News Today and headlines on some of the happenings and news trend in the Country, today 05/08/19

target=_blank>EXCLUSIVE: How APC, Wike Plan To Hijack #RevolutionNow Protest

President Buhari and Governor Wike

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The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has concluded plans to disrupt the #RevolutionNow protests scheduled for Monday, August 5, 2019, SaharaReporters can confirm.
A source told SaharaReporters that Nyesome Wike, governor of Rivers State, has also vowed to resist the peaceful protests which seeks to end bad governance in Nigeria.
“The APC has planned to disrupt tomorrow’s protest by having their own protest tomorrow.
“Their motive is to have a physical clash with the #RevolutionNow protesters so it would lead to loss of lives and property,” he said.
According to the source, the Rivers State governor has also ordered the police to arrest peaceful protesters.
“Wike has also ordered the police to arrest anybody that holds any protest in the name of revolution.”

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target=_blank>RevolutionNow: CORE Releases Modalities For #August5 Protests, Warns Protesters Against Violence

The Coalition of Revolution (CORE) has called on Nigerians to join its peaceful protest against bad governance in the country while urging its members to stay away from any violent act during the protest.
The group also rejected the labeling of the protest by the Nigerian government and police as a move to cause violence and uproar in the country.Giving its reason for the protest, the group posited that the country had been “plunged into crises by bereft leadership who have turned the country into a business centre.”
CORE, in a statement sent to SaharaReporters, said the police were making move to create fear in the minds of the people by tagging the protest as a violent one while insisting that its demands are clear and glaring.
CORE said, “The police may have to explain to the world how the following listed demands would lead to a violent protest and treasonable felony like the Police PRO, DCP Frank Mba, stated in the statement issued yesterday.
“We understand that this is the crude old trick of the state to create fear in the minds of the oppressed to delay their day of freedom.
“But it is more glaring this time around that Nigerians have taken their destinies in their hands and are saying enough is enough to hardship, insecurity, insurgency, incessant killings, epileptic power supply, disrespect to court orders, blatant abuse of power and office as well as embarrassing corruption.”
CORE listed its demands to include an economy that works for all and not a handful of individuals, banks and foreign multi-nationals, an effective and democratic end to insecurity and insurgency, an end to systemic corruption and total system change in the interest of all, the immediate implementation of the 30,000 naira minimum wage at all levels in the public service as agreed with the trade unions, and education as an enforceable right and not a privilege.
The movement urged its members and all those who would be joining the protest to eschew all forms of violence and remain calm.
It said, “No protester should throw any object as little as stones or attack any security officials. We are aware of their intent to provoke the masses unduly by using undue tactics and sponsored agents, so as to give the protest a bad name.
“We encourage all Nigerians to remain calm, as we are ready to fight these injustices to a logical conclusion. If you would come with water, make sure you come with water ONLY in plastic bottles. We say no to glass wares.”
It also noted that irrespective of the colour orange recognized as the insignia of the protest, everyone is free to come dressed in any colour.

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target=_blank>Protest Marches Are Not Treasonable Offences In Nigeria By Femi Falana

Femi Falana (SAN)

The satanic Boko Haram sect was officially banned in Nigeria by the federal government and declared a terrorist network in June 2013. The office of the Attorney-General of the Federation has since successfully prosecuted many of the members of the sect for sundry offences under the Terrorism Prevention (Amendment) Act.
The Special Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has also investigated and indicted the leaders of the sect for committing crimes against humanity. Having regards to the brutal killing, rape, abduction and bombing of innocent people in the northeast region the Nigerian people are fully in support of the proscription of the dreaded sect and the counter-insurgency operations being carried out by the armed forces.
However, it is worrisome that the Buhari administration has decided to extend the ambit of the Terrorism Prevention (Amendment) Act to cover individuals and organisations that are critical of official policies or perceived marginalisation within the federation. Thus, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) was proscribed as a terrorist body in 2017 for agitating for the excision of the Republic of Biafra from Nigeria while the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) was proscribed last week for organising rallies to compel the federal government to comply with a court order by releasing the Shia leader, Sheikh Ibraheem Elzakzaky and his wife from custody.
Yesterday, the authorities of the Nigeria Police Force threatened to prosecute the organisers of the peaceful rallies scheduled to hold in Nigeria on Monday, August 5, 2019, for terrorism and treason to press for a change in the poverty induced agenda of the federal government. If this trend of accusing every person of engaging in terrorist activities or treasonable felony for criticising the Buhari administration continues the Nigeria Police Force and the State Security Service will soon turn Nigeria into a country of terrorists. To stop the dangerous trend it is high time the federal government restrained the security agencies from further exposing Nigeria to ridicule in the comity of civilized nations.
Indeed, by virtue of section 37 of the Criminal Code Act, any person who levies war against the State, in order to intimidate or overawe the President or the Governor of a State, is guilty of treason, and is liable to the punishment of death while section 41 provides that any person who forms an intention to remove the President during his term of office otherwise by constitutional means is guilty of treasonable felony and is liable to be sentenced to life imprisonment. The Terrorism Prevention (Amendment) Act has defined an act of terrorism to include any act which is deliberately done with malice which may seriously damage a country or an organization, or seriously intimidate a population, otherwise influence government by intimidation, destroy public facility, seize an aircraft, ship or other means of public transport likely to endanger human life or in result in major economic loss etc.
From the above definitions of treason, treasonable felony and terrorism it is crystal clear that the organisers of the peaceful rallies cannot be said to have planned to engage in acts of terrorism or formed an intention to remove President Muhammadu Buhari from office. The intention of the organisers of the rallies to protest the worsening security situation in the country, demand for payment of N30,000 minimum wage to workers and job creation for our army of unemployed youths etc cannot by any stretch of imagination be said to constitute terrorism or treason in any material particular.
No doubt, the Nigeria Police Force has capitalized on the use of the word “revolution” to criminalise the protests. If revolution has become a criminal offence in Nigeria why were the leaders of the APC not charged for claiming to have carried out Nigeria’s democratic revolution which terminated the 16-year rule of the PDP in 2015? Why was Dr Kingsley Chiedu Moghalu, the presidential candidate of the Young Progressive Party (YPP) not threatened with treason when he asked Nigerians to rise for revolution via the 2019 general election? Did all Nigerian senators led by APC members not commit treason or terrorism when they spent one and a half hours on May 14, 2019, to debate Senator Chukwuka Utazi’s timely motion on “Bridging the gap between the haves and have-not to nip in the bud the seeds of a looming violent revolution”?
I wish to submit, without any fear of contradiction, that neither the Criminal Code Act nor the Terrorism Prevention (Amendment) Act has classified the demand for a revolution in Nigeria as a treasonable offence or terrorist activity. The statement credited to the Police is a sad reminder of the jittery reaction of the British Colonial invaders to series of lectures organised by the Zikists Movement in 1948 which Comrade Edwin Madunagu has described as a major intervention at a time that bourgeois politicians were dividing the country along ethnic lines. For demanding revolution via public lectures the Zikists were charged with sedition, tried, convicted and jailed. In proving the charge, Osita Agwuna was alleged to have said that he was no longer bound by colonial laws and that he had asked Nigerians to stop paying taxes to the British colonial regime.
Agwuna who delivered the first lecture in Lagos, Tony Enahoro who was the chaired the lecture and Habib Abdallah who delivered the second lecture together with Oged Macaulay was convicted and sentenced to prison terms ranging from 6 months to 3 years. In Director of Public Prosecutions v Dr. Chike Obi (1961) 1 NLR 186, the respondent was charged with sedition, tried and convicted for distributing a pamphlet in which he had said, “Down with the enemies of the people, the exploiters of the weak and oppressors of the poor” directed at the federal government. However, in in the case of Arthur Nwankwo v The State (1985) N.C.L.R. 228 the provisions of the Criminal Code which provided for sedition and seditious publications were declared illegal and unconstitutional by the Court of Appeal on the ground that they constituted a violation of the fundamental right of Nigerian to freedom of expression.
Since the Shehu Shagari elected government was overthrown by a band of coup plotters led by General Muhammadu Buhari in December 1983 the Constitution was suspended. Consequently, Nigerians were subjected to intimidation and ruled by martial law. In May 1992, I was one of the five civilians charged with a treasonable felony by the Ibrahim Babangida junta for organizing protests demanding an end to military rule in the country. The late Chief Gani Fawehinmi SAN and I who represented ourselves and the other defendants argued that street protests were not captured under section 41 of the Criminal Code. We also argued that it was ironical that General Babangida and his fellow coup plotters who should be standing trial for treason had turned round to charge us with a treasonable felony for merely organising street protests and rallies to end a corrupt military dictatorship in our country.
Embarrassed by our submissions the Babangida junta abandoned the case and abandoned it. In the circumstances, the charge was struck out for want of diligent prosecution while we were discharged by the trial Chief Magistrate.  However, some journalists and human rights activists were not so lucky as they were convicted for being accessories after the fact of treason by the Sani Abacha junta. But with the restoration of democratic rule in May 1999 the Treason Offences Decree, No 29 of 1993 was repealed.
On duty of the Police to provide security during rallies
Under the current political dispensation, the anti-democratic tendencies of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were regularly challenged by the Nigerian people. Incidentally, the opposition political parties were involved in resisting the encroachment of the fundamental rights of citizens to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly. On September 23, 2003, the leaders of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples’ Party (ANPP) including General Muhammadu Buhari and Dr.Chuba Okadigbo held a rally in Kano, Kano State to protest the alleged rigging of the 2003 general election. Embarrassed by the development the Olusegun Obasanjo administration directed the police to stop the rally. Accordingly, the Police violently disrupted the rally and dispersed the participants with a heavy dose of teargas. Two days later, Dr Okadigbo passed on due to breathing problems. The ANPP blamed the federal government for Dr Okadigbos’s death which was alleged to have arisen from the poisonous teargas used by the Police to stop the rally.
To put an end to such crude violation of the freedom of expression through demonstrations and rallies by aggrieved Nigerian people the ANPP instructed our law firm to challenge the disruption of the Kano rally. Thus, in the case of  ANPP v IGP (2006) CHR 181, the plaintiff questioned the constitutional validity of police permit as a conditionality for rallies, marches and other public meetings in Nigeria. In her judgment delivered on June 25, 2005, the presiding judge, Chinkere J. held that police permit was illegal and unconstitutional as it was inconsistent with sections 39 and 40 of the Constitution and Article 11 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights Act (Cap A9) Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.
According to the learned trial judge, “I am therefore persuaded by the argument of Mr. Falana that by the combined effect of sections 39 and 40 of the 1999 Constitution as well as Article 11 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the right to assemble freely cannot be violated without violating the fundamental right to peaceful assembly and association.” Consequently, the court granted an order of perpetual injunction restraining the Inspector-General of Police  “whether by himself, his agents, privies and servants from further preventing the Plaintiffs and other aggrieved citizens of Nigeria from organizing or convening peaceful assemblies, meetings and rallies against unpopular government measures and policies.”
The epochal decision of the federal high court was upheld by the Court of Appeal in the case of IGP V ANPP (2008) 12 WRN 65. The Presiding Justice, Adekeye JCA (as she then was) asked “…how long shall we continue with the present attitude of allowing our society to be haunted by the memories of oppression and gagging meted out to us by our colonial masters through the enforcement of issuance of permit to enforce our rights under the Constitution?” On the fear that a rally might lead to a breach of the peace, her ladyship said that “our Criminal Code has made adequate provisions for sanctions against the breakdown of law and order so that the requirement of permit as a conditionality to holding meetings and rallies can no longer be justified in a democratic society.”
Happily, the Police decided to abide by the judgment concerning the management of public protests. Hence, in the Nigeria Police Code (issued in 2010) it is expressly stated that police officers shall “maintain a neutral position about the merits of any labour dispute, political protest, or other public demonstration while acting in an official capacity.” Based on the new official policy the Police provided security for the members of the Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress during the anti-fuel protests. Similarly, the Police did not disrupt the street protests convened by the Save Nigeria Group when the late President Umoru Yaradua was said to have been admitted in an undisclosed foreign medical centre in 2010.
However, in 2014, in violation of the judgment and the Police Code the Federal Capital Territory Police Command decided to stop the daily rally held in Abuja by the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) members in Abuja to remind the State of its responsibility to free the abducted Chibok girls. But the ban was successfully challenged by the BBOG at the Federal Capital Territory High Court through our law firm.  In upholding our submissions in the unreported case of Hadiza Bala Usman &Ors v Commissioner of Police & Anor. (Suit No: FCT/HC/CV/1693/2014 of 30th October 2014) Aladetoyinbo J. held that “it is wrong for the counsel to the Respondent (IGP) to insist that the Applicants must obtain Police Permit before they can gather together for their peaceful protests.”
Given the judicial recognition of the fundamental right of Nigerians to convene and participate in rallies, protest marches and other public meetings for or against the government the National Assembly was compelled to amend the Electoral Act, 2010 in March 2015. Thus, section 94 (4) of the Electoral Amendment Act, 2015 states that“Notwithstanding any provision in the Police Act, the Public Order and any regulation made thereunder or any other law to the contrary, the role of the Nigeria Police Force in political rallies, processions and meetings shall be limited to the provision of adequate security as provided in subsection 1 of this section.”
In the light of the relevant constitutional and statutory provisions and judicial authorities which have recognised the fundamental right of the Nigerian people to convene and participate in rallies, demonstrations and protest march the threat of the Nigeria Police Force to stop August 5, 2019, should be withdrawn without any further delay. Furthermore, the Inspector-General of Police, Mr Mohammed Adamu is advised to direct the Commissioners of Police in all the states of the federation earmarked for the protests to ensure that adequate protection is provided for the organisers and participants as required by law.
The State Security Service should release Mr Omoyele Sowore, one of the conveners of the protests. In the alternative, he should be arraigned in court if there is reasonable suspicion that he has contravened any penal statute. However, the nation’s security agencies should stop embarrassing President Buhari who had a cause, from 2003-2014,  to lead peaceful rallies to protest election malpractice and insecurity in the country.
Finally, the attention of security agencies is hereby drawn to that part of the judgment of the Court of Appeal in IGP v ANPP (supra) wherein  Justice Adekeye cautioned thus:
“A rally or placard carrying demonstration has become a form of expression of views on current issues affecting government and the governed in a sovereign state. It is a trend recognised and deeply entrenched in the system of governance in civilized countries- it will not only be primitive but also retrogressive if Nigeria continues to require a pass to hold a rally. We must borrow a leaf from those who have trekked the rugged path of democracy and are now reaping the dividend of their experience.”

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target=_blank>Sowore Arrested For Planning Revolution-DSS

Omoyele Sowore

SaharaReporters Media

The Department of State Services (DSS) on Sunday confirmed that its operatives arrested human rights activist, Omoyele Sowore, because he called for a revolution in Nigeria.
DSS spokesperson, Peter Afunanya, while addressing reporters in Abuja Sunday afternoon, said the DSS was “aware” of information that Sowore had been in touch with foreign actors to destabilise Nigeria.
Details later…

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target=_blank>Wole Soyinka Condemns Sowore’s Arrest

Wole Soyinka at the Civic Media Lab

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Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka, has condemned the arrest of human rights activist, Omoyele Sowore.
Sowore was arrested and detained for organising a protest against bad governance in Nigeria.
Soyinka, in a strongly-worded statement, also berated the Inspector General of Police for propagating a false narrative that the use of the word “revolution” implies violence.
The statement reads in full:
Surely, Not Again!!!
Wole Soyinka
Deployment of alarmist expressions such as “treason”, “anarchist”, “public incitement” etc. by Security forces have become so predictable and banal that they have become meaningless. Beyond the word ‘revolution, another much misused and misunderstood the word, nothing that Sowore has uttered, written, or advocated suggests that he is embarking on, or urging the public to engage in a forceful overthrow of the government. Nothing that he said to me in private engagement ever remotely approached an intent to destabilize governance or bypass the normal democratic means of changing a government. I, therefore, find the reasons given by the Inspector-General, for the arrest and detention of this young ex-presidential candidate contrived and untenable, unsupported by any shred of evidence. His arrest is a travesty and violation of the fundamental rights of citizens to congregate and make public their concerns. This is all so sadly déjà vu. How often must we go through this wearisome cycle? We underwent identical cynical contrivances under the late, unlamented Sani Abacha when he sent storm-troopers to disrupt a planning session for a similar across-nation march at Tai Solarin School, Ikenne. This was followed up by a personalized letter that was hand-delivered by the State Security Services to me under their summons, at their Abeokuta so-called ‘Annexe’ with near-identical wording to the threats contained in today’s release from the desk of the Chief of Police. At least, I was summoned, not subjected to a terrorist midnight arrest. Some irony! The same pattern Pavlovian conduct manifested itself under yet another supposed democratic ruler who personally declared that the gathering of civilians to deliberate on and propose a constitution for the nation was ‘high treason’, and would be resisted by the full rigour of state power if we persisted. The Inspector-General of Police mobilized his forces and issued inflammatory proclamations, but PRONACO went ahead despite all the thundering from Aso citadel. Can the police ever learn anything also their tear-gassing and brutalizing of grieving mothers who marched peacefully to protest the deaths of their children in a plane crash inferno? Their mission, under that same regime, which was simply to deliver a letter to the government house in Lagos, demanding greater safety in airline operations, yet such a rational intent, born of traumatic circumstances, was quashed on the sidewalks of a supposed twentieth-century nation. And yet again, even a faceless cabal under yet another civilian regime refused to be left out of the insensate play of power. A march on Aso Rock calling for an end to governance by a ghostly entity was slated to be crushed, but fortunately, a conflicting balance of interests decided in favour of a reduced trajectory of protest. And so on and on and on, in a nation which continues to speak at once through both sides of the mouth, spewing out the same Treason monotone, as if this was a magic incantation that could substitute for the venting of mass feelings, even as collective therapy! May I invite the Inspector-General to wade through the daily journals of the past few weeks and months, read and digest the calls by numerous sectors of society – across professions and national groupings – for demonstrations against the parlous conditions of society, all identifying ills to which attention must be drawn, and urgently, through mass action? Demonstrations and processions are time-honoured, democratic ways of drawing not only the attention of the government to ills, but of mobilizing the public towards a proactive consciousness of their condition, and thereby exhorting civil society also to devise means of ameliorating their condition through their efforts? Religious bodies have urged such remedies, so have civic associations. The ready recourse to arrests, incarceration and threats to civilians are ultimately counter-productive. They alienate the citizens, erode their confidence in governance responsiveness, and thereby advance the very extremist nightmare that security agencies believe they are acting to thwart. If we cannot learn from the histories and experiences of other societies, let us at least learn from ours. Freedom is not so glibly qualified. It cannot be doled out like slops of charity from soup kitchens. Let the Police stick to their task of protecting and managing protests, not attempt to place their meaning and declaration of intent on bogey words like – revolution!

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E2%80%99s-obsession-yemi-osinbajo-oladele-peter target=_blank>Fani-Kayode’s Obsession With Yemi Osinbajo By Oladele Peter

It is no longer news that for Mr Femi Fani-Kayode to remain relevant in Nigeria he has resorted to insulting Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and this has given him the illusion of the relevance he sought, especially at a time even members of his party see no more value in him.
Just like his father (Chief Victor Fani-Kayode) who betrayed Chief Obafemi Awolowo and the entire Yoruba race, Femi has been following his father’s footsteps by fighting against the real Yoruba interest and person of Prof Osinbajo, who many see as one of the shining lights and a beacon of hope in this present government.
What cannot be doubted is that Yemi Osinbajo is everywhere going about his national duties, working tirelessly for the good of the nation even with his limited constitutional powers as the vice president.
The main grouse of people like FFK is that the VP has a trustworthy and cordial relationship with President Muhammadu Buhari. And for this reason, he is saddled with the responsibilities that are deemed by many as beyond his constitutional powers.
These are major responsibilities which many a former vice president has never handled. How many times did Atiku have to bear the blame for the perceived errors of Obasanjo while they were in office? Or Jonathan bearing the burden of Yaradua’s mistakes? Whoever blamed Namadi Sambo for the many undoings of President Jonathan? Yet for social cum public space cheaters like FFK, it is the man who is ahead in integrity, character and competence who must be attacked and brought down, even when the buck doesn’t stop at his desk!
It has been argued that the renewed onslaught against Osinbajo is because of 2023. Thanks. FFK and such political opportunists and sophists are focused on the VP because his character, integrity and popularity threaten their 2023 aspirations.
On the kidnapping of clergymen, Femi Fani-Kayode should know that Pastor Adeboye and Prof Osinbajo were as bothered as the rest of Nigerians and as leaders with integrity; they immediately swung into action using their spiritual and political capacity to call for the rescue of the abducted pastors. If Mr Fani-Kayode did not have an ulterior motive and had he waited even 48 hours he would have been celebrating the rescue of these pastors and other Nigerians that were abducted.
Pastor Enoch Adeboye demonstrated a good example as a leader in the body of Christ by asking Nigerians and Christians to pray for their release, even while the security agencies continue their search and rescue operations. Unlike the rabid rabble-rouser utterances, we have read from Fani-Kayode on various media platforms.
Femi Fani-Kayode is very crafty in whipping up religious and ethnic sentiments, as he encourages people to behave violently or aggressively, twisting even the meanings of passages in the Holy Scriptures, always for his political advantage. He has been out of power and the money that comes with it. He is thus on a mission of survival, albeit in a most fatal approach of slandering Osinbajo who is seen by progressives as a true ‘Omoluabi’ and hardworking man.

target=_blank>COZA: Fatoyinbo Returns To Pulpit One Month After Stepping Down

The Senior Pastor of the Commonwealth of Zion Assembly, Biodun Fatoyinbo, has returned to the pulpit barely a month after stepping down, The PUNCH has learnt.
Scores of protesters stormed the church in early July to protest against Fatoyinbo who was accused of raping photographer, Busola Dakolo, 20 years ago.
Amid the protest, Fatoyinbo announced his decision to step down, while his wife, Modele, had taken charge of the church — a move which seemed to pacify protesters.
On Sunday, however, the COZA senior pastor delivered a sermon titled, ” Sudden victories”, in a packed church auditorium.
He focused his sermon on the books of 1st Timothy 6:12; Mark 4:35-37 and 1st Corinthians 10:13.
Fatoyinbo said it was written in the Bible that Christians would always face persecution, but God would ensure that they are victorious.
He said, “As a Christian, you must face opposition. If God, who is holy and faithful has enemies, you are sure going to have.”

target=_blank>Anti-open Grazing Law: Benue Prosecutes 81, Seizes 3,000 Cows

Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State on Saturday in New York said no fewer than 81 herdsmen had been convicted and 3,000 cows seized under the state’s anti-open grazing law.
Ortom, who gave the update in a keynote address at the 2019 annual convention of the Idoma Association USA, said implementation of the law had brought relative peace to the state.
“We are implementing our law, and there is relative peace. As at today, we have convicted 81 herdsmen. Some have paid fines; others are still in prison as I talk to you.
“We have gone a step further. Anywhere we see cattle doing open grazing, we go after them. So far, we have arrested over 3,000 cattle.
“The law stipulates that within seven days, owners of such cattle should pay fines and reclaim them. We have been collecting fines from them,’’ he said.
While insisting that ranching remained the best solution to the farmers/herders conflict, the governor challenged anyone with a better alternative to bring it forward. Ortom spoke on the topic, “Security and economic challenges in Benue State’’, which was a modification of the theme of the conference that centred on Idoma land. He said all parts of the state were facing similar development challenges, including insecurity, infrastructural deficit, unemployment, health and sanitation issues, among others, hence his decision to broaden the scope. The governor said only four of the 23 local government areas in the state, namely Otukpo, Konshisha, Ushongo and Vandeikya, were spared of conflict between locals and herdsmen in the last six years. “As at today, herdsmen have attacked 19 of the 23 local governments in Benue, claiming over 5,000 lives between 2013 and 2018. “Over 195,000 homes and 30 churches worth billions of naira were destroyed in the attacks,’’ Ortom said. He thanked Idoma people in the U.S. for their support to victims of the Agatu attack in 2016; award of scholarships to Benue students, among others. The governor also lauded them for being of good conduct, noting that to the best of his knowledge, no criminal case or report had been brought against them. Ortom used the opportunity to brief his hosts on the policies, programmes and projects being executed by the state government under his leadership.

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target=_blank>Omoyele Sowore: Is Revolution In Its Real Sense Criminal? By Adejumo Kabir

Nigerians on Saturday woke up to read the news of how Omoyele Sowore, the publisher of Sahara Reporters and right activist was ‘kidnapped’ by secret police at his residence ahead of the nationwide protest expected to start in 21 cities on Monday, August 5. The protest, according to Sowore and other organizers, is tagged: #RevolutionNow to express their displeasure with all manners of challenges the country is facing. While many Nigerians agree that the country is going through hell, some did not consider revolution as the right approach to use against the corrupt leaders occupying the seat of power. Some persons even argued that the sole aim of Sowore is to hijack power. The online defenders of the government of the day claimed that those calling for revolution are sponsored by the oppositions. While we are still battling with the proper answers to the above allegations, we must ask ourselves the following questions: “Is Revolution in its real sense criminal? Is Sowore’s call for revolution right? Is Sowore calling for war? The meaning of the term “revolution” is simple. It is simply a fundamental socio-political transformation. Revolution is not war as tagged by many people. “As long as justice and injustice have not terminated their ever-renewing fight for ascendancy in the affairs of mankind, human beings must be willing to battle against oppressors”, says John Stuart Mill. This is a revolution. It is simply freedom. A fight against tyrannical injustice for the victory of oppressed and it is expected to be carried out for an honest purpose by people’s free choice. History has it that in the 18th century, the discovery of revolution as a relevant political category was reflected and supported by political and moral philosophy. Past philosophers in their works argued that revolution is not just a right but also the duty of the people to demand the best from their rulers. Howard Evans Kiefer said: “It seems to me that the duty to rebel is much more understandable than that right to rebel, because the right to rebellion ruins the order of power, whereas the duty to rebel goes beyond and breaks it”. Thomas Hobbes maintained that it the right of the people to defend themselves against the sovereign if their lives are under threat”. According to Lenin, revolutions happen when two conditions have been met, “first, the ruling class can no longer carry on ruling in the same old way, and second, the working class won’t let them.” Unarguably, the lives of over 70% Nigerians are under threat. Yet, some persons still opined that revolution is criminal. They have forgotten that we live in a country where kidnapping for ransom has become the order of the day. A country where citizens cannot sleep with their two eyes closed. A nation where security operatives kill citizens more than they protect them. It is important to note that revolution becomes bloody when agents of government such as the DSS that kidnapped Sowore denied folks of their rights. “It is the state repression that is violent, and that often provokes a violent reaction from the masses — upon which the media often almost exclusively focuses”, Lenin argued. Sowore’s arrest is a case study. The United Nations confirmed that over 27, 000 persons have been killed by Boko Haram in the last 10 years of their reign. The insurgents continue to overpower our military men whose strength is only in raping university students as they did in Adekunle Ajasin University, Akugba Akoko. The Army Chief, Tukur Buratai on his part lacks the will to end insecurity. We’ve graduated from the crisis of Boko Haram to a country with the uncountable crisis. I may be the next person to die after writing this article and you may even be the next after reading this piece. Why? We are not certain that we won’t be kidnapped and butchered before the end of the day. This is the thought that run across the mind of many Nigerians. Our so-called religion and traditional rulers continue to meet with the president daily to negotiate the best means to safeguard the people but positive change remain difficult to achieve. It appears that mediation and negotiation cannot give us liberty in Nigeria and our best option, for now, is to revolt. #RevolutionNow protest is to send a signal to the world that Nigerians are ready to send the failed leaders out of the system. It is madness and stupid for any government to think that a family can be raised with N18,000 monthly salary. The implementation of N30,000 minimum wage won’t come as or with a tea party. Sowore’s revolution is a brave decision. There’s a need to disrupt the political and economic space and the time is now. It is sad to wake up every morning to remember that your country is the capital of world poverty, that your country has the highest number of out of school children, that your country is among the top list of countries with child and maternal mortality, that your country top in cybercrime and that your police, judiciary, lawmakers and religious leaders are most corrupt personnel. No doubt, people will revolt. You picked Taju on the street but left Ochanya to die because of the failed system. Years after, Success (dem go flog tire) was picked on the street but you did not remember the Kazeem in my father’s backyard. You refuse to think about the Steven, Lukmon, Ezinne and many other kids whose parents cannot feed let alone put them in school. These kids will grow to curse you all. The kids will grow to be terrorists, they will locate the kids of the corrupt leaders, terrorise and even kill them. Malala said: “with a gun, you can kill terrorists but with education, you can kill terrorism”. Nigeria as a country is not ready to kill terrorism and it is time for every sane mind to stand tall against oppression as it is fondly said that the oppressors cannot ride the oppressed except their backs are bent. We should not bend our back. Karl Marx once said, “someday, the worker must seize political power to build up the new organization of labour; he must overthrow the old politics which sustain the old institutions, if he is not to lose Heaven on Earth, like the old Christians who neglected and despised politics”. He maintained that if the working class don’t push revolution to a successful conclusion, “the old order will re-impose itself and the whole sorry mess will start over again and so, it will continue indefinitely until they either succeed in transforming society in their interests, or it ends in the common ruin of the contending classes and perhaps the end of the human race.” All hands should be on deck to plan this revolution together. We should have a planned revolution like the Chinese revolution of 1949 than a spontaneous revolution like the Russian revolution of 1917. Spontaneous revolution is the attribute of the military. We need a planned revolution like Sowore’s #RevolutionNow to defeat both the corrupt civilian leaders and their khaki boys. #FreeSoworeNow#RevolutionNow Adejumo Kabir is a journalist and student of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife. He tweets @AdejumoKabir2

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#FreeSowore: Chaining A Body Whose Mind Is Free By Modiu Olaguro

Modiu Olaguro

Sahara Reporters Media

“The young generation of whites, blacks, browns, whatever else there is, you’re living at a time of extremism, a time of revolution, a time when there’s got to be a change, people in power have misused it, and now there has to be a change. And a better world has to be built and the only way it’s going to be built is with extreme methods. And I, for one, will join in with anyone—don’t care what colour you are—as long as you want to change this miserable condition that exists on this earth.”—Malcolm X at the Oxford Union in December, 1964.

A couple of weeks after the 2019 presidential elections, I met Omoyele Sowore at the Sahara Reporters’ Civic Media Lab and after we exchanged pleasantries in his usual “hey professor” way, he told me in a sombre tone how travelling across Nigeria during his one year intensive campaigns had made him (upon his brief return to the United States) value things he had hitherto taken for granted having been practically away for twenty years.
Sowore told me how he came to appreciate the leaders of America for the good roads, stable power, modern schools, world-class health care, mortgage facilities, welfare programs, etcetera.
I listened to him with rapt attention and pity as he held the stand of the red water tank inside the compound. When he was done talking, I said the following words:
“Sir, please leave us here with our poverty and return to the states.”
Unknown to many, Sowore is rich and comfortable. His children neither live nor school here. If I had a twelfth of the opportunity Sowore has, I would have forgotten the location of Nigeria on the world map. I am writing this as clear as I can with a heavy heart. Nigerians who are most hit by poverty and hunger have shown the most love to those inflicting those indignities on them.
Although, a friend of his warned that he could dislike me for asking that he leave Nigerians with their poverty, I had to say it nonetheless. I do not know what could motivate someone as comfortable as ‘Sho’ to leave his family, job and convenience to fight against base conditions that ordinarily have little effect on him.
Nigeria is a space of dead people. It is a dangerous black hole where no amount of good manifests as a result of its nature of neutralizing anything worthwhile thrown at it.
The same people castigating Sowore are dying in hunger, writhing in pain and smiling in agony; yet clutch in vain hope, struggling to take a seat on the podium where praises are heaped on the custodians of their chains.
How will a country led by established thieves, certificate forgers and freeloaders appreciate a person like Sowore who created something out of nothing? How did Nigeria treat Professors Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, Pius Adesanmi and Ayodele Awojobi? Did Awojobi, a genius professor of engineering not threaten to go study law? Did the Nigerian government not frustrate him that he once broke down in tears in court?
If I had an herbalist, I will not think twice before taking Sowore’s name there and cause him to forget the name of his country. For thirty years since he found his voice, Nigeria has chained, arrested and molested him. Until two years ago when he overcame the fear of death, he used to sneak in and out of the country. As it stands, the day I leave this country will be the last I will complain about it. The argument that there is no place like home holds water when there is one to begin with. How has Nigeria been made home for Nigerians? Did the president not say the southeast was not a part of his constituency?
Daily, we live in fear. Fear of insecurity. Fear of devaluation of a weak currency. Fear of war. Fear of an increase in the pump-price of petrol. Fear of a social uprising. Fear of everything. Anyone resident here with no fear in his/her heart is either dead or delusional. The reality is that this country will not get better anytime soon—not with the ruinous path her wicked handlers have intentionally put her. The thought that the rest of the world left us in the 17th century to move to the 21st is enough to prove my point. Look around you: from the roads politicians build to the rail, from agriculture to education, and from our hospitals back to our governance system, can you spot a difference between them and those that have been around since the time of Isaac Newton?
Unlike many, Omoyele Sowore is a firm believer in Nigeria and Nigerians. In July when he met with Nnamdi Kanu, one of the things he told him was his aversion to the snide remarks members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) make against members of other ethnic stock in Nigeria.
Sowore told him everyone outside of the political class is suffering a form of injustice or the other and efforts must be made to speak for all and not to call for the balkanization of the Lugardian Contraption. Sowore’s vision is to have a borderless African continent in the way and manner our Pan-Africanist ancestor, Kwame Nkrumah envisaged.
His positions are on the internet. Sowore does not and has never advocated for the dissolution of the country although he has a right to do so. His anger, like mine, rests solely on the criminal minds ruining this blessed land of milk and honey.
While it is within the rights of anyone to fault the methods and timing of his many interventions including the most recent, #RevolutionNow, what is unacceptable is his traducers’ penchant at distorting his motives and passion at seeing that this present order of blood and death is put to an end. A country peopled by individuals who fail to appreciate little things will find it unworthy to reckon with the heavy sacrifices a few persons from amongst them make.
Whether the despotic government of Muhammadu Buhari frees Sowore or not, I have no doubt that individuals averse to the rot in this society will keep up with the momentum as a means to end this condition of suffering and sin firmly in place in Nigeria .
The government arrested Sowore in body thinking they could get a hold of his soul. Those championing #FreeSowore should at least be consoled that no one on earth has the capacity to chain a body whose mind is free.
I congratulate Sowore.
Sooner than later, Nigerians will rescue Nigeria.
Modiu wrote via dprophetpride@gmail.com