Sowore: Femi Adesina says Nigerians don't care about activist's re-arrest

Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, says there are millions of Nigerians who are not bothered about the re-arrest of Omoyele Sowore, the #RevolutionNow convener, by the Department of State Services (DSS).

During Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme on Monday, December 9, 2019, Adesina, while reacting to the outrage that welcomed Sowore's re-arrest at a Federal High Court on Friday, December 7, stated that he doesn't agree when people say a lot of Nigerians are unhappy.

Sowore’s ordeal with the DSS started on Saturday, August 3, 2019, when operatives of the secret police stormed his residence around 1:00am to arrest him ahead of his planned #Revolutionnow protest. [Twitter/@YeleSowore] Pulse Nigeria

The President’s spokesman said, “I don’t particularly agree with you when you say a lot of Nigerians (are not happy), you know that all this noise has been coming from less than 100,000 Nigerians. And the noise will be so loud that you think it is the whole country.

“It is a country of 198 million people. When just 100,000 are making noise in the social and traditional media, you would think the whole country is in an uproar. There are millions and millions of people who are not bothered.

“There are millions of people who know what the issues are. So, you cannot just seek the opinion of a local minority and then conclude that the country is in an uproar," Adesina added.

In a statement issued on Sunday, December 8, 2019, and titled, “Sowore: Between Fact and Fiction” the presidency said it should not surprise anyone that the DSS is after Sowore.

The statement explains that the DSS does not necessarily need the permission of the presidency in all cases to carry out its responsibilities that are laid down in the Nigerian Constitution, adding that by re-arresting Sowore, the department is only acting within its powers.