Members of the African Action Congress, Abuja Chapter, and the Coalition of Revolution have said they would on Monday, January 4, commence the occupation of Abuja and the police Force Headquarters building.
This, they said, is to demand the release of former presidential candidate of the party, Omoyele Sowore, and his colleagues arrested on New Year’s Eve in Abuja.
The groups said they would not fold their hands and allow the activists to be kept in custody for long without being charged for any known offence.
In a statement on Sunday jointly signed by Abdul Ameen and Sydney Godwin, the groups said no amount of intimidation, arrest and shooting would stop them from shutting down the police facility and Abuja city.
They noted that President Muhammadu Buhari should worry more about the myriads of problems bedevilling the country which include corruption, insecurity, bad governance and extreme poverty than Sowore and other voices of dissent.
The statement partly reads, “The AAC Abuja chapter has watched painstakingly the developments surrounding the illegal abduction of human rights activist, prisoner of conscience and 2019 presidential candidate, Stephen Omoyele Sowore, whose news broke on January 31 that some notorious Special Anti-Robbery Squad officers arrested him and others and since haven’t been charged for any offence(s) alongside other abducted comrades in the persons of Juwon, Michael, Damilare and Kimrere.
“We’re not surprised by the violation of human rights by Buhari whose antecedents date from 1983.
“But he should rest assured that we’ll continue to demand human rights as it is not only constitutional but divine.
“We’ve resolved that if by Monday, Sowore and other comrades aren’t released, we’ll occupy Abuja.”
The group urged the President to channel his energy into safeguarding Zamfara, Kaduna, Borno, Adamawa, Kano and Katsina states which are being terrorised by bandits and the Boko Haram terrorists.
“The Nigerian populace have resolved to take back their country from mediocrity and place her in glory amongst the comity of nations and no level of intimidation can stop that. You can’t stop an idea whose time has come, ” the statement added.
