DSS washes hands off Sowere’s arrest 

 

The Department of State  Service (DSS) has washed its hands off the arrest of the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress in the 2023 election, Omoyele Sowore.

Sowore was arrested on Sunday morning at Murtala Muhammad International Airport in Ikeja, Lagos State by Nigerian Immigration officials but later released.

A source at the DSS said the agency had nothing to do with the arrest as speculated by some media platforms.

He said though the politician was once on the watchlist of DSS, his name had since been removed and therefore no reason to arrest him.

The source said “We have nothing to do with Sowere’s arrest. He used to be on our watchlist, at the moment he is not on our watchlist.”

He continued, “I don’t know why some media platforms would be so reckless in their reporting, I expected them to do little investigation and know which agency that carried out the arrest.”

Sowere had written after his arrest, “I had just arrived in Nigeria from the USA at MMIA in Lagos; upon reaching Nigerian Immigration, my passport was seized, and they told me they had orders to detain me.

“This is not unexpected because I have always known that it is part of the broader clampdown by the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress in the 2023 election.”