Two weeks ago, a DSS memo ordering the arrest of Sowore upon his arrival in Nigeria got leaked.
Olayomi Koiki
Lagos – Nigerian human rights activist Omoyele Sowore has released after being detained on Sunday by officers of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos.
Sowore was arrested and detained at the airport on Sunday immediately upon his arrival in Nigeria.
Following his detention at the airport over a watchlist of the country’s secret police, Department of State Service (DSS), NIS seized his passport and contacted the DSS and awaited ‘an order from above’.
However, confirming his release, Sowore wrote on X: “I have just been released. My passport and everything have been returned to me.”
Member of the Take It Back Movement and other activists had stormed the airport to await the return of the activist, who had been with his family in the United States since March 2024.
His flight left the Washington Dulles International Airport at 6.14 EDT and arrived in Lagos at around 9.43 WAT.
Two weeks ago, a DSS memo ordering the arrest of Sowore upon his arrival in Nigeria got leaked.
Sowore lambasted the DSS for issuing a directive for his arrest on his arrival in Nigeria, disclosing that his intention was to return to the country ‘very soon’.
“The current administration, led by Tinubu, has demonstrated an upgraded inability to effectively track and apprehend terrorism suspects, bandits, and kidnappers, while the @officialEFCC has yet to arrest former Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello.
“Meanwhile, the lawless @OfficialDSSNG has upgraded my status and name on their “watchlist” for arrest upon arrival in Nigeria,” Sowore wrote on X after the memo got leaked.
“It is imperative to recognise that our country Nigeria requires salvation and our people need liberation, which will necessitate considerable effort. I intend to return home shortly, I mean very soon,” he said.
It was learnt that the directive, issued by the newly appointed DSS Director General, Adeola Ajayi, stemmed from Sowore’s role in August’s nationwide protests.
The memo, signed by Adeola D. Ali for NISEC NHSS, read: “DSE: 94/6203 X WATCHLIST ACTION X EYE AM DIRECTED TO INFO Y OURS THAT X THE DGSS HAS APPROVED THE UPGRADING OF WLA
“’B’ (REPORT ARRIVAL AND DESTINATION BY TELEPHONE IMMEDIATE LY) TO WLA ‘F’ (DETAIN TRAVELER AND ESCORT WITH BAGGAGE TO NHSS) X VIDE DSE: 9A/6201 X AGAINST OMOYELE SOWORE X AN AC TIVIST/FOUNDER OF SAHARA REPORTERS INC. X AN ONLINE NEWS AGENCY X THIS IS FOR YOUR STRICT COMPLIANCE X PLEASE X.”
According to a strong source, Ajayi included Sowore’s name on a security watchlist, citing his involvement in August’s nationwide protests and forthcoming October 1 demonstration as justification.
“The new DSS boss forwarded Sowore’s name to airport security for him to be arrested whenever he enters the country,” the source was quoted as saying by Sahara Reporters.
Also, during an interview on September 4, 2024, with Cordelia Okpei on “The Voice of the Peoples” programme, Sowore revealed that he had received credible intelligence that his name had been submitted to airport security personnel by the newly appointed DSS Director General.
According to Sowore, the directive mandates his immediate arrest upon arrival at the airport.
He criticised the new DSS helmsman for prioritising political vendettas over addressing the pervasive insecurity that has brought Nigeria to its knees.
Sowore stated: “We have drawn our next protest which is in October. They called me several times. They have my name at the airport. I am on their watchlist as I was told by several people. So, they will most likely arrest me when I return to Nigeria but that will not stop me. I will go to Nigeria whenever I want to go to Nigeria, it is my country. I don’t have any other country other than Nigeria.
“So we have to face these guys down. We have seen many oppressors, bullies and tyrants in our lifetime. But that is not the issue; the issue is that these people have done more damage to the Nigerian civil populace than they have done to anywhere else.
“So we have to face these guys down. We have seen many oppressors, bullies and tyrants in our lifetime. But that is not the issue; the issue is that these people have done more damage to the Nigerian civil populace than they have done to anywhere else.
“So I don’t know why I would be wasting my time advising the new guys there who came to do the bidding of the president. Even as I am speaking with you, the new DSS guy transmitted to the airport yesterday my name again just to refresh the memory of the security at the airport that if I come into the country, I should be arrested and brought to his office.”
In March 2024, Omoyele Sowore, 53, was allowed to return to his base in the United States after spending nearly five years in Nigeria, following incarceration by Muhammadu Buhari’s administration for starting a movement tagged #RevolutionNow.
A Federal High Court in Abuja had ordered the release of his passport after the Nigerian government had withdrawn its treasonable felony case against the human rights activist four years after it was seized and he was barred from leaving Nigeria.
The President Bola Tinubu-led government, in February – discontinued the treasonable felony case instituted against Omoyele Sowore.
The development was made known in a document issued by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi.
The document dated February 15, 2024, was addressed to the Federal High Court of Nigeria, Abuja Division.
In the document, the government disclosed its intention to also discontinue the case against Sowore’s co-defendant, Olawale Bakare, aka Mandate.
Justice Emeka Nwite also ordered that Omoyele Sowore’s passport be released to him by the Department of State Services (DSS) which earlier seized it.
Nigeria is facing its worst economic crisis in decades, with skyrocketing inflation, a national currency in free-fall and millions of people struggling to buy food. Only two years ago Africa’s biggest economy, Nigeria is projected to drop to fourth place this year.
The pain is widespread. Unions strike to protest salaries of around $20 a month. People die in stampedes, desperate for free sacks of rice. Hospitals are overrun with women wracked by spasms from calcium deficiencies.
Although President Bola Tinubu increased the minimum wage — after strike action and months-long negotiations with labour unions — from N30,000 to N70,000, his government has increased spending for officials at a time of nationwide starvation.
For workers earning the new N70,000, or $43, per month minimum wage, capricious inflation and naira value have inflicted too much damage for the changes to make any difference in their lives.
The crisis is largely believed to be rooted in two major changes implemented by Mr Tinubu, elected 16 months ago: the partial removal of fuel subsidies and the floating of the currency, which together have caused major price rises.
A nation of entrepreneurs, Nigeria’s more than 200 million citizens are skilled at managing in tough circumstances, without the services states usually provide. They generate their own electricity and source their own water. They take up arms and defend their communities when the armed forces cannot. They negotiate with armed kidnappers when family members are abducted.
But right now, their resourcefulness is being stretched to the limit.
Prices of petrol tripled since the removal of subsidy in May 2023, from around ₦200/litre to about ₦1000/litre, compounding the woes of the citizens who power their vehicles, and generating sets with petrol, no thanks to decades-long epileptic electricity supply.
Amid a lingering fuel scarcity and crisis, petrol is being sold for ₦855 per litre at state-owned petroleum company, NNPCL, cementing claims that the price has been reviewed upward to reflect the nation’s current foreign exchange woes and fuel landing cost hassles.
In recent weeks, the nation has suffered an acute fuel scarcity that led the few stations with fuel to sell at exorbitant prices above N1,000 per litre while black market prices exceeded N1,200.
In August, Amnesty International accused Nigerian security forces of killing at least 21 protesters during a week of economic hardship protests.
Police and other security agencies clamped down on protests after thousands of people joined rallies against government policies and the high cost of living from August 1st to 10th.
Security forces denied responsibility for deaths during the protests.