Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, has described the invasion carried out on the Ibadan residence of Yoruba activist, Sunday Adeyemo, aka Sunday Igboho, last Thursday by operatives of the Department of State Services, DSS, as a “nocturnal coup”.
Falana said on Channels Television’s ‘Politics Today’ programme on Monday.
DAILY POST recalls that the DSS last Thursday invaded Igboho’s residence, gunning down two of his allies.
Subsequently, the secret police, through its spokesman, Peter Afunanya, while addressing newsmen in Abuja, declared Igboho wanted over alleged activities threatening the common existence of Nigeria.
Reacting to the development, Falana insisted that there is no law in Nigeria that allows DSS to arrest somebody in the dead of the night.
He said, “You can’t have a situation where nocturnal arrests are made in a state as if you are planning a coup. Take Ibadan for instance, the invasion of the home of Igboho happened in the night and for all-day, everybody was wondering who did and that seven people were killed.
“People were arrested and abducted at 2am, the governor of the state wasn’t aware. So, everybody was trying to find out, calling security agencies, only for the State Security Service to issue a very provocative statement after almost 12 hours to say, ‘We did it, we killed two people, we raided a house’. Somebody attempted to evade arrest and you killed two people? The governor of the state wasn’t aware?
“In these days of kidnappings, anybody can come to your house in the night and arrest you. And these are guys who don’t wear uniforms.”
“There is no provision, unless a crime is being committed in the night; you cannot go there and arrest. In this case, you are required by law to bring a search warrant. In this case, there was no search warrant, nobody took an inventory.
“Now, Sunday Adeyemo has said I didn’t have any gun in my house. Yet, the SSS paraded guns and other ammunition. All the controversies would have been unnecessary if the SSS had behaved like a modern, civilised agency.
“These are very dangerous legacies of military dictatorship in our country.”
Soyinka slams FG over handling of Igboho, Kanu
Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has slammed the Federal Government over the invasion of the residence of Yoruba Nation agitator, Sunday Adeyemo, aka Sunday Igboho, and the manner of the re-arrest of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnmadi Kanu.
Soyinka, who spoke on Monday during an interview on BBC Pidgin, said instead of declaring Igboho wanted, the government should apologise to him for the “criminal” act of attacking his home.
Hesaid the activist’s mission of fighting for the oppressed in the South-West was not wrong in the absence of government intervention.
“My advice to the government is that they should stop pursuing this person as a criminal because you have begun by acting in a criminal fashion against him.
“If and when Igboho comes to trial, I guarantee you the government will be very embarrassed.
“I think they should tell Igboho, ‘We made a mistake, we should not have acted in this way, you are no longer wanted, go back to your home’. In fact, escort him to his home and let him resume his normal life,” headded.
The playwright also faulted the Federal Government for not describing AK-47-wielding herdsmen as terrorists waging a violent insurrection against the Nigerian state.
He said the leadership of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria ought to have been apprehended over their past roles and comments.
“The government cannot wash itself clean on what seems to be a kind of comparative energy in pursuing the destabilised forces in the nation.”
Soyinka also described the extradition of Kanu as a kidnap, saying such acts stood condemned under international law.
He said, “It’s not for me to tell the President to prepare himself because it’s going to be a huge squawk when the truth about how Kanu was arrested comes out. People are alleging this or that. That is one phase whether Nigeria has acted outside international law.
“The second issue, however, has to do with Kanu’s conduct outside the nation. There’s been a level of hate rhetoric which has been unfortunate, from Kanu. Hate rhetoric is an issue that can only be judged by the laws of any nation.
“Was it right to have been kidnapped? You can say ‘intercepted’ as much as you want, but I think Kanu was kidnapped. That is wrong internationally and morally.”
Source: Punch & Dailypost
