Sowore’s case: DSS learns from past practice

Before I go further, let me state that DPA opposes the fact that any agency of Nigerian government could detain a person beyond 24 hours without charging him. Such practice violates our constitution and sets back human civilization.

Having said that, let’s address the reality of Sowore’s forthcoming court case. On 22nd September will be 45 days after Justice Taiwo granted the DSS leave to detain Sowore on suspicion of treason and terrorism. On 21st of September, the court will review the matter. There are the following possibilities:

1) The DSS will choose to do nothing further and just release Sowore on or before the expiration of the 45 days:

DSS will not take this option because it means that Sowore can sue them for unlawful arrest and detention. He will argue that there was no legitimate reason to arrest him, as DSS ultimately admitted by releasing him without charging him. Besides, it will create a precedent DSS hates to have. That is: it will suggest that the noises and protests by Sowore’s friends had effect on DSS. On their part, DSS wants Nigerians to believe that they are too powerful to mess with, which is sad and unfortunate.

2) The DSS will apply for an extension of the 45  days:

This will be DSS’s weakest but obvious option because they will have to show why they could not complete the investigation and why they need extra 45 days. Justice Taiwo is about the toughest judge that DSS will face in Abuja. He is new to Abuja. He is extremely intelligent. He recently rejected extradition request by the US through the EFCC. And in another case by DSS, which has been pending for the past 5 years, which was reassigned to Taiwo, the judge granted bail over vigorous opposition from the DSS. So, unlike other judges, Justice Taiwo does not fear DSS. (Not yet). So, they have to work hard to satisfy him with their legal argument.

But my assessment is that with a good effort, DSS will prevail. The legal threshold for detention under the Terrorism Act is very low. All that DSS needs are some unverified claims that Sowore was planning to engage in some terrorist acts. A picture of him and the leader of IPOB plus any statement calling for a revolution will be enough to cross that threshold. Because IPOB is a “proscribed” organization, and because Nnamdi Kanu is, as far as the courts are concerned, a person on whom a bench warrant lies, the court will interpret any association with Kanu negatively. You just need to understand why and what the law sought to achieve by proscribing IPOB. The goal was to isolate IPOB and make it unlawful for people to associate with it. So, when a man calling for a revolution is seen with the IPOB leader, the implication should be obvious.

So, extension will be granted to DSS to detain Sowore for another 45 days period, if DSS chooses that option.

3) The DSS will file charges against Sowore at the expiration of the 45 days:

With this option, Sowore will be arraigned and remanded in one of the Abuja prisons (correction facilities) unless the DSS succeed in having him remanded in their own facilities.

This is the option DSS may not want yet. Once Sowore is remanded in regular prison, he may have access to telephone. Any unregulated access to the outside world means that Sowore who already has his Sahara Reporters will try to use that platform to attack those whom he feels engineered his predicament. DSS will not want that.

They learned important lesson from their experience with Nnamdi Kanu. IPOB grew stronger while Nnamdi Kanu was detained in the regular prison. They have avoided detaining Dasuki and El-Zakzaky in regular prison. So, if they charge Sowore next week, they will seek to continue to remand him in their facilities. They will not like Sowore to repeat what Nnamdi Kanu did – use his period of detention to increase his following.

On the question of bail: DSS will successfully oppose Sowore’s bail application. They will try to show that Sowore has the capacity to temper with witnesses and interfere with investigation. What you must know is that during those years Sowore was using Sahara Reporters to extort money from people and blackmail them, every law enforcement agency in Nigeria had a file on him. DSS had a file on him. But nobody could reach him then because he was in America. Those files grew cold when Sowore became the mouthpiece of the APC against Jonathan and his PDP. But those files are being reactivated now.  So, Sowore’s old victims are resurrecting and they will be calling the leaders of DSS with their complaints. So DSS will be doing some people a favor by not letting Sowore out soon.

So, bail will be denied. They will consider him too dangerous to be free on bail. Besides, he can escape back to America and return to his old ways of attacking from outside the country.

How will this help Sowore? Naturally, once the public feels that a person has suffered or has been punished more that he deserved, that person becomes a hero. If Sowore is detained for 3 years, there will be massive public sympathy for him. He will become a hero and then more mature and more eligible to run for a serious position such as House of Rep for a constituency in his Ondo State.

In slightly more than one week, Sowore’s case comes up again. Femi Falana’s motion to vacate the initial order shall have become moot or overtaken by events because the order he is seeking to vacate has expired on its own force. Falana should be fighting now against the future measures from DSS and the courts.

The lesson of Sowore case must be learned again. The Nigerian State is deeply repressive. When you take on the Nigerian government or any of its agencies, prepare for a drawn-out battle. Never count on those initial noises that will be made by the likes of Soyinka and Falana. Those noises disappear after the first two weeks.

If Sowore needs to be free soon, his solution is outside the courts. Nigerian courts are largely slaves to the executive arm of government. Sowore, though an Ijaw person of Ondo extraction, has been accepted by some vocal Yorubas as one of them. Hopefully, they can pull their political strings to get him some soft landing.