A protest broke out at the headquarters of the Department of State Services (DSS) on Saturday over the continued detention of Omoyele Sowore, convener of RevolutionNow Movement.
Some activists staged the protest at the headquarters of the Department of State Services in Abuja, demanding the release of Mr. Omoyele Sowore, and Olawale Bakare.
The Abuja Division of the Federal High Court has issued the warrants for the release of the duo and the DSS has acknowledged receipt of the warrants.
DSS on Thursday, however, said it did not release Sowore and Bakare because there was no lawyer to receive them.
This claim has been faulted by Human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), on Friday. He stated that the DSS decided not to release his two clients to his lawyers who waited in vain for not less than four hours at the DSS headquarters in Abuja on Thursday.
On Saturday, social activist, Deji Adeyanju and other activists went to the headquarters of the DSS but he said, Sowore was not released.
He said, “They have refused to release Sowore to me or his lawyer here. All their Ogas (boss) claim they are not at work. #FreeSoworeNow.”
Sowore was arrested in Lagos on August 3 and subsequently flown to Abuja where he is being detained.
Last month, a federal high court in Abuja granted him bail but the secret police refused to release him despite fulfilling the bail condition.
On Friday, Peter Afunanya, spokesman of the secret police, acknowledged that the agency had received the order to release Sowore but said the service had not freed him because no one showed up on his behalf.
However, on Saturday morning, lawyers, supporters and family members of the activist visited the DSS headquarters but were denied access to Sowore.
Abubakar Marshal, one of the activist’s lawyers, arrived at the DSS office at 10am alongside some members of Sowore’s family but security operatives prevented them from gaining access to the facility.
The operatives manning the gate had asked them of their mission and the lawyer introduced himself, saying he was was there to pick up his client.
But they said he would not be allowed in until they got clearance from their superiors. This led to altercation as the lawyer vowed not to leave there until Sowore is out.
In the heat of the argument, a legal director at DSS put a call to Marshal, saying he was not around.
This prompted some of the supporters of Sowore to stage a protest outside the headquarters of the secret police.
They vowed to continue occupying the DSS headquarters until Sowore was released but after waiting for over three hours, some of the lawyers left.
