The candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in the 2019 and 2023 presidential elections, Omoyele Sowore has decried the impunity in the Nigerian system, revealing that most Nigerians have already seceded mentally.
Sowore, the #RevolutionNow convener, who spoke on Monday at the “FAWEHINMISM” Conference, an annual gathering dedicated to the late legal giant Chief Gani Fawehinmi organised by the Nigerian Bar Association, Ikeja branch in Lagos, explained that most Nigerians were still in the country because they had no other option.
He regretted that only impunity would make security agents invade a courtroom and kidnap any Nigerian regardless of the offence committed by such a person.
He said, "All these issues of secession we are all talking about, we have forgotten that we are only worried about people who are seceding at the level of ethnic organisations. We have forgotten that Nigerians in their majority have mentally seceded from this country. Yes, the majority of you are no longer in this country.
"You are just trapped in Nigeria; that is why you are still here. If an aeroplane were to be sent to Nigeria today and they say anybody who wants to leave should leave, nobody would be left, including lawyers in this room. Yes. I can guarantee you that even Senator Shehu Sani may consider leaving.”
Recalling how former President Muhammadu Buhari’s government arrested and detained him on treasonable charges in 2019, Sowore lamented that he was kidnapped inside a courtroom by security agents without recourse to the institution of democracy.
"In 2019 and this is very important, you all know that I was arrested and tried for treason too and my lawyer Femi Falana was there. So when I was released Femi Falana said, ‘Look, Sowore I have been loyal to lots of people - Gani Fawehinmi, Fela..., after you have been granted bail don't talk oh! Just let us handle this matter till you rejoin your family in the US.’ When I got out, I found out that Shehu Sani was also arrested and detained.
"So, I went to the EFCC (Economic and Financial Crimes Commission) to go and visit him, and it was my visitation that scared them and got him released. Why do I say this? Speaking about where we are, you are not talking about the fact that those people who hijacked power are still tormenting you.
"As I am talking to you the military was so kinder to me when they were in power than the civilian regime; I was kidnapped from a high court in Abuja in front of a judge, the judge ran away, the wig was in the air, the personal bodyguard of the judge was running out and the judge was saying ‘wait for me’ at the federal high court.”
"Only a few lawyers could even wait. I have said that Nigeria has degenerated over the years. It is our impunity that led us to where we are in this country today," he lamented.