Governor of Ondo State, Rotimi Akeredolu, has condemned the rearrest of pro-democracy campaigner and journalist, Omoyele Sowore, by operatives of the Department of State Services.
Sowore was rearrested in the premises of the Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday, barely 24 hours after he was released from the custody of the secret police on bail.
Although the DSS denied rearresting the journalist inside the court, claiming its operatives were not at the place at the time, there are videos and pictures showing that some of the operatives invaded Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu’s courtroom.
Reacting to the situation, Akeredolu, who spoke at a Nigeria Bar Association programme in Ibadan, Oyo State, knocked the DSS for its conduct during the rearrest of the journalist.
He said, “It should be an anathema to the bar that inaction has come upon us. The bar needs to talk on quite a number of things.
“We must be terror against demagogues. It is when the voice of the bar is heard consistently that it will earn respect. Will people go and desecrate our courtrooms and we keep quiet? The bar must condemn it. There is no explanation anybody can give you.
“Somebody calls it drama. Drama! How? What we saw was not drama, you must stand up to condemn the SSS for what they did in Abuja.
“Our spirit must remain indomitable. Forget about where we are today because a lot of us made efforts to say what you have done is wrong and the only way out was apology almost immediately but what people believe is different.
“If we are not careful, the day will come that people will walk into a judge’s sitting and arrest people with their wig and gown.”
