Former Presidential aspirant of the
All Progressives Congress, APC, SKC Ogbonnia, on Monday hinted that Omoyele
Sowore, co-convener of the RevolutionNow movement may never “regain freedom,”
under the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
SKC Ogbonnia highlighted that
Sowore’s failure to align with some of the wealthy in the society could lead to
his continued detention.
The Department of State, DSS, had
recently picked up Sowore for calling for a revolution.
He was subsequently arraigned
alongside one Olawale Bakare on a seven-count charge of treasonable felony,
cyberstalking, and money laundering before the Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu-led court.
Justice Ojukwu, who initially
granted him bail in the sum of N100m bail, later reduced it to N50m.
Despite reducing the bail bond,
Sowore had remained in custody due to his inability to produce sureties to
perfect his bail.
However, a statement Ogbonnia
personally signed, said the All Progressives Congress,
APC, see Sowore as its primary enemy.
The statement reads: “Nigeria’s
foremost anti-corruption crusader and a presidential candidate in the country’s
2019 election, Omoyele Sowore, who is being detained by state authorities on
trumped-up charges, may not regain freedom soon, because he happens to be a
paragon of virtue who truly personifies the famous quotation: “I belong to
nobody.” It is clear this uncommon patriotism has not been put into
consideration by the principal actors in Sowore’s ongoing prosecution,
particularly the presiding judge, Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu.
“Recall that Justice Ojukwu,
while reducing one of Sowore’s bail conditions from N100 million to N50
million, had wondered why a Nigerian of his pedigree does not have many people
queuing up to stand as his surety, the stringent terms notwithstanding. It can
be easy to lampoon the learned judge for hinging her argument on such premise,
quite alright, but she should be assumed innocent on four compelling grounds.
“First, Justice Ojukwu must have
based the decision on legal precedent. Such bail conditions, including a
seemingly assumption that Sowore maintains a residence in Abuja, are typically
reserved for famous Nigerian politicians. But it obvious Justice Ojukwu did not
know that, unlike the corrupt politicians, Sowore is neither wealthy nor can
afford an opulent lifestyle of multiple mansions. More importantly, Ojukwu does
not know that Sowore distances himself from the wealthy politicians, most of
who attained their status through corrupt means. Though he aligned with some
questionable characters within the opposition ranks during the 2015
presidential campaign, his effort was not only strictly pro bono, that moment
in history called for a united front against the gross misrule under the then
ruling party.
“Second, Justice Ojukwu clearly
mirrored the bail conditions of Nnamdi Kanu, another citizen charged for
treason in violation of his right to free speech. Yet, the judge should not
fail to recognize that Nigerian money bags, who could afford the millions
involved in such bail conditions, owe their allegiance to the country’s two
political behemoths: Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressive
Congress (APC). This goes without saying that Kanu was able to meet his bail
conditions due to the fact that he enjoyed an intrinsic sympathy within the
PDP. On the other side, even as Sowore played a vital role in bringing APC to
power, the party now sees the anticorruption activist as its primary enemy.
“Third, Justice Ojukwu might have
been swayed by the fact that there is no meaningful pressure from Sowore’s
tribe or region, as commonly obtainable when citizens are illegally detained in
Nigeria. But she must be reminded that geopolitics does not favor Omoyele
Sowore. His style of war against corruption has never known boundaries, and
this patriotic independence is central to his undoing.
“For instance, the East appears
to have no sympathy for Sowore for his role in the fall of President Goodluck
Jonathan. The North, on its own, is very furious at the anti-corruption
activist for opposing President Buhari. Worse still, the political leadership
in Sowore’s Western region under APC is even more irate. A Southwest cabal
assumes that its support of the injustice against Sowore would endear it to
Buhari towards 2023 presidency—a thought similar to a prevailing emotional
myopia which presumes that the Igbo should foreclose any hope of producing the
next president because of Nnamdi Kanu.
“The nature of these sectional
inuendoes is regrettably understandable. However, it only goes to show that
Sowore truly belongs to nobody but has sacrificed for everybody. This paradox
has roots in the ephemeral nature of memory in Nigeria, a country where the
history is a taboo, which has always made it difficult to give honor to whom
honor is due. If not, both the North and West would have capitalized on the
moment to demonstrate appreciation for the role Sowore played in bringing both
Buhari and the APC to power; while the Easterners could embrace any support as
a payback for the risks the Sahara Reporters publisher took in Jonathan’s
journey to the presidency, beginning from the time the health of Jonathan’s
incapacitated predecessor, Umaru Yar’Adua, was shrouded in utter secrecy.
“Finally, even if Justice Ojukwu
further varies the bail terms to the barest minimum, as widely expected, a
powerful cabal within the APC would not want Sowore to regain freedom before
2023 presidential election. Such characters want to remain in power after
Buhari and thus see Sowore’s tabloid, the Sahara Reporters, as the “African
Wikileak”, capable of exposing their sins against the humanity.
“This is where Nigeria’s civil
society ought to come in and heighten the pressure. The posterity will not be
kind to this generation if we allow evil to triumph over good. This time calls
for perseverance and persistence. A noble step forward is to find a way to chip
into the #freesoworenow “Go Fund Me” account, no matter how little. The wealthy
good Samaritans, who are understandably scared that the Buhari regime could go
after their businesses if they stand for Sowore, can still contribute to Go
Fund account, using the Anonymous option. Money is direly needed to defend this
prisoner of conscience and the cause of the common man. As the eminent
philosopher Edmund Burke would remind us, evil can only thrive if good people
do nothing.
“In sum, the continued detention
of Omoyele Sowore may appear very appealing for the ruling APC, politically;
but the apparent injustice evokes fatal consequences. The biggest loser is
President Buhari for succumbing to the wishes of an overzealous cabal whose
sole vision in the plot to succeed him is polar opposite to the common good. It
is not surprising that the Sowore saga has further darkened Nigeria’s image in
the comity of nations, thereby hindering the all-important foreign investment.
Of course, the poor masses are the victims.”
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