Suleman to storm DSS office with ’30 lawyers’
Thirty lawyers will accompany Johnson Suleman, general overseer of Omega Fire Ministries Worldwide, to the Abuja headquarters of the Department of State Services (DSS), according to PUNCH.
He is expected to appear before the secret police by 10 am on Monday.
Phrank Shaibu, communication adviser to the pastor, confirmed the invitation, saying he would honour it.
“Yes, I can confirm to you that he (Suleman) was officially invited and as a law-abiding citizen, he will honour the DSS invitation on Monday,” PUNCH quoted Shaibu as saying.
“The invitation, though ludicrous and an afterthought, is a welcome development.”
The newspaper added that a source disclosed that Suleman had the intention of going to the office of the DSS with 30 lawyers.
“Suleman will be appearing before the DSS with about 30 lawyers because we believe that his persecution has become politicised,” the source reportedly said.
The agency invited the fiery cleric after its bid to arrest him failed.
Earlier in the week, DSS operatives trailed him to the hotel where he lodged after a crusade in Ekiti state, but Suleman quickly reached out to Ayodele Fayose, governor of Ekiti, who intervened on his behalf.
Suleman had ordered his security aides to kill any Fulani herdsman that attempts to attack his church.
Responding to the attempt to arrest Suleman, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) vowed to resist any plot to turn the country into a refugee camp for Christians.
“Treating ministers of God and our members as common criminals is unacceptable to the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN),” the association had said in a statement.
How is it difficult for the DSS to understand that this will be seen as persecution- that a clergy is being criminalized for a statement made in self-defence? And it is so shameful that truck-loads of personnel were despatched to arrest an unarmed man of God when there was never enough personnel to guard hardened criminals in court. One should rather expect the Service to review its performance against the backdrop of so many unchecked killings that is provoking otherwise peaceful citizens to express themselves in a manner like this- for we must take note that Apostle Johnson Suleman open statement had been said by a lot of people unheard.