BY SEGUN ADEBAYO – The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has condemned the Department of State Security Services (DSS) for its alleged courtroom intimidation and humiliation of activist Omoyele Sowore at the Federal High Court premises in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Accordingly, the Congress warned that such authoritarian overreach directly threatens Nigeria’s democratic foundations, describing the unfortunate development as “unnecessary and embarrassing.”
In a strongly worded statement, the NLC President, Comrade Joe Ajaero characterized the agency’s actions as a completely unwarranted spectacle, noting that the heavy-handed mass intimidation and rowdy scene created by personnel were totally unnecessary, deeply embarrassing to the nation, and incompatible with the restraint expected from a sophisticated secret service.
Expressing deep dismay over the incident, Comrade Ajaero cautioned the security agency against overstepping its legal bounds and criticized it for acting as both accuser and jailer during the arrest.
The statement said: “We are appalled by the conduct of the DSS at the Federal High Court, Abuja, while taking into custody Mr. Omoyele Sowore. The rowdy scene, bullish behaviour, the mass intimidation by the personnel, and the humiliation of Sowore were unnecessary and embarrassing to an organisation that carries with it a certain level of sophistication or elegance.
“We are opposed to this kind of drama by our Secret Service, as there was no need for it. Who were they re-enacting this for, anyway? Beyond this, we are worried by the interest of the DSS in this matter and the way it has prosecuted it, as the accuser and the jailer. We have the Ministry of Justice, or precisely the Attorney General of the Federation,n to care for matters of this nature.”
Maintaining that it was saddening for the DSS to take upon itself a role that portrays it as an ingratiating agency, the NLC said such action represents a sharp departure from the one vested on the Agency by the constitution and empowered to monitor all (including Mr. President) and act in a manner (through pre-emption or otherwise) to preserve the state or its interest.
It further said, “When the DSS goes into overdrive to protect an individual or government at the expense of the state or a party presumed to be innocent until found guilty by a competent court of jurisdiction, that will be at variance with their oath of office.
“The Nigerian State is superior to all individuals or governments, and the DSS ought to know the difference. There could be no better illustration of this credo than when, through the diligence of two journalists and the American Secret Service, a sitting American President, Richard Nixon, was compelled to resign from office over the Watergate scandal in 1976.
“We need strong institutions and not strong individuals for our democracy to survive. Strong individuals constitute a threat to democracy anywhere. When we, as institutions, outbid one another to please the president, we are unwittingly jeopardizing our democracy.”
