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Stop Treating Sowore Like Terrorist, Jiti Ogunye Tells Nigerian Government

January 2, 2021

Ogunye said Sowore had not committed any offence to warrant such brutality and arrest.

A constitutional lawyer, Jiti Ogunye, has told the Nigerian government and security agencies to tread with caution in handling the case of the human rights activist, Omoyele Sowore, saying he was not a terrorist and had never posed any threat to the security of Nigerian people.

He disclosed this on Friday, while speaking to SaharaReporters on the arrest of the activist by the police.

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He urged the security agencies, particularly the Nigerian police and the Department of State Services, to dissuade from embarking on ‘Gestapo measures’ capable of bringing their image into disrepute.

Ogunye said Sowore had not committed any offence to warrant such brutality and arrest, adding that the activist was not a terrorist as being portrayed and Nigerians do not see him as a threat to their security and well-being.

He said, "Sowore may be a subject of interest to the Nigerian security agencies but he is not a terrorist. He is not a threat to the security of Nigerian people and they don't see him as a threat to their security well-being.

"I don't know what warranted such arrest. There is no reason for a cat-and-dog relationship between Sowore and the Nigerian security agencies.

"The security agencies should just calm down. This is a new year. Nigeria had a terrible 2020 and we hope to have a new lease of life economically."

He, therefore, called for his immediate and unconditional release from detention.