Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana SAN says Nigeria’s Department of State Services (DSS) sent a delegation to the court on Monday, December 9, to apologise for the invasion by its operatives during the re-arrest of Sowore.
Speaking at the Wole Soyinka Award for Investigative Reporting event in Lagos, Falana said the delegation visited the court to apologise for invading the premises.
“This afternoon (Monday, December 9), the SSS management sent a delegation to the court to apologise for the invasion of the court on Friday. We just fight injustice until it is over in our country” Falana said.
The secret police had invaded the federal high court in Abuja on Friday to rearrest Omoyele Sowore, convener of RevolutionNow Movement, barely 24 hours after he was released on the order of the court.
Falana had earlier said the head of the DSS team who invaded the court apologised to Ijeoma Ojukwu, the presiding judge, in her chambers. Video clips which made the rounds showed the chaos inside the courtroom where Sowore was pinned down by a man alleged to be an operative of the DSS while he (Sowore) was surrounded by his supporters who fought back.
The DSS has, however, denied infiltrating the court. The service said it did not attempt arresting Sowore inside the court, alleging that his supporters only “stage-managed the drama” to bring the service to disrepute. Justifying the rearrest of Sowore, the DSS said he “resorted to acts inimical to security”, adding that it remains a law-abiding agency.