TheCable

The Department of State Services (DSS) has moved Omoyele Sowore, human rights campaigner, from its facility in Lagos to Abuja.

Sources at the DSS said Sowore, who has been held incommunicado since Saturday, is currently being detained in Abuja.

Although the secret police is yet to make any comment on his arrest, it is believed to be in connection with the nationwide protest that he was organising.

When TheCable reached Peter Afunaya, spokesman of the DSS, over the arrest of the activist on Sunday, he said: “Come to my office at one pm… I can talk to you then.”

Sowore, convener of “#RevolutionNow: Days of Rage” protest, was picked up in the early hours of Saturday and taken to the Lagos head office of the secret police on CMD Road, Magodo, Ikosi, Ketu.

Tope Akinyode, one of Sowore’s lawyers, had said he visited the head office of the command in Lagos but was denied access to the activist.

“As Lawyer to Mr. Omoyele Sowore, Publisher of Sahara Reporters, I visited the DSS office at CMD Road, Ketu, Lagos together with other notable Nigerians. Mr. Sowore had been arrested in a ‘gestapo’ manner in the early hours of today,” he had said in a statement.

“When we got to the DSS office, we were denied entrance into the Police Building arrogantly. As much as I persuaded them that the ‘accused’ has lawful right of access to his Lawyer as enshrined under Section 35 (2) of the 1999 Constitution, my advice fell on the deaf ears of the Police Officers who claimed that their boss wasn’t around and I have to wait till Monday (working day) before I could be let in.

The Coalition for Revolution, campaigners of the #RevolutionNow, has vowed to go on with the protest despite the arrest of the convener of the movement.

There has been serious pressure on the secret police to release Sowore.