In yet another ridiculous twist, the Department of State Services on
Tuesday said that it was yet to release pro-democracy campaigner and
Publisher of Sahara Reporters, Omoyele Sowore, from its detention
facility in Abuja because it doesn’t want him to get knocked down by a
vehicle on his way out.

Spokesperson for the agency, Peter
Afunanya, also told journalists in Abuja on Tuesday that Sowore’s
lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), was yet to come fetch him from their
facility.

Afunanya said, “We cannot just release Sowore and ask him to go because he may be knocked down by a vehicle at the gate.”

Afunanya
noted that Falana had not been to the headquarters of the service since
the activist was granted bail, a claim the popular rights lawyer
vehemently rejects.

Afunanya claimed that the DSS was following
administrative procedures by asking the sureties to come forward for
proper documentation.

He said, “We respect rules and orders of
the court and there was never a time the Director-General said he would
not release Sowore.”

The secret police continues to hold on to
Sowore despite two court orders directing it to release him after
meeting bail conditions on both occasions.

Femi Falana, senior
advocate of Nigeria (SAN), says Yusuf Bichi, director-general of the
Department of State Services (DSS), has stopped taking his calls.

“I
confirm that I have an official relationship with the DG of SSS. But
since the commencement of the case of Sowore and Bakare the DG has
refused to pick my calls while I have since become a persona non grata
in the office of the SSS,” Falana said.

Sowore was arrested in Lagos on August 3, 2019 for calling on Nigerians to take to the streets in peaceful demonstrations to demand a better country from President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

Source:- Saharareporters