Sowore’s return from US: Activists gather at Airport, DSS lays in wait, as Amnesty International cautions FG against arrest

 

Presidential candidate of the Africa Action Congress (AAC) in the 2023 presidential election, Omoyele Sowore, is reportedly on his way to Nigeria from his base in the US.

 

 

Sowore’s expected arrival in Nigeria saw many of his supporters gather at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport  to receive him amid alleged  plans by the Department of State Services (DSS) to arrest him over charges similar to those filed against #EndBadGovernance protesters.

 

 

Sowore’s return to Nigeria May be in connection to the phase two of the #EndBadGovernance protest billed for October 1.

 

 

Amnesty International in a statement warned the Nigerian authorities against the plan to arrest Sowore, urging an end to the weaponization of security agents in the harassment and intimidation of activists, journalists, and whistleblowers.

 

 

The statement reads: “The alleged threat to arrest Omoyele Sowore upon his return to Nigeria follows the escalating crackdown on human rights, peaceful dissent, and media freedom in the country.

 

 

“Last week, Nigeria’s Department of State Services arbitrarily arrested NLC President Joe Ajaero and invaded the Abuja office of the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, barely 24 hours after the organization urged President Tinubu to instruct the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited to reverse the hike in the pump price of petrol promptly and to probe allegations of corruption and mismanagement in the NNPC.”