Omoyele Sowore, human rights activist and one of the organisers of the #EndBadGovernance protest has said that the Fearless protest slated for October must take place because they?re not afraid of the Federal Government charges of treason against innocent Nigerians who are protesting against bad governance and hunger.

Sowore who spoke on Arise TV on Sunday after he was arrested and released at the Muritala Mohammed International Airport by men of Department of State Services (DSS) on arrival from the United States of America, stated that the Fearless Protest is a continuation of the #EndBadGovernance protest and must hold in October as planned, irrespective of the government?s threats.

He said, ?It?s part of a series of protest that have been organised by Nigerians which started in August 1st that is the EndBadGovernance protest. It?s supposed to be a continuation because of the 15 demands that the government didn?t even attend to.

?Instead of that, the Federal Government arrested a lot of minors and charged them for bogus offences of treason for carrying placards.

?It?s going to be a continuation, the mobilization and conversation for it has been on since the end of August revolt, that?s the endbadgovernance revolt. Everybody should be prepared for it and it?s a matter that the citizens shouldn?t allow this government to continue with this hunger, starvation and incompetence.

On whether he doesn?t know that carrying placards under this government is treason, he said, ?It?s treason to arrest and detain citizens for crimes they never committed. It?s not the first time that I was accused of treason. In fact I heard about the offence of treason in 1992 at the university of Lagos when we did Babangida must go and the police arrested us, took us to Western Avenue Police Station and asked us to write statements under durex that we wanted to overthrow the government. Femi Falana was one of us and we were charged for treason.

?I was also charged for treason in 2019 by Buhari. So, it?s not new to me. That is not our focus; our focus is that we have a country to liberate and the people to save. Whatever offence that is thrown our way shouldn?t discourage us. It?s left for the people to determine what constitutes an offence of treason. In this situation it?s the Tinubu regime that?s committing treason and I must say to you also that in 1994 Tinubu was accused of treason by Abacha that was why he left Nigeria. In our own case we?re not going to run because nobody is afraid of placards,? he said.

On why some of them still act as if election is still on, when the president has said that politics is over and Nigerians should be ready to make sacrifices, the former presidential candidate of African Action Congress (AAC) said, ?We never ran an election in the first place but that is a conversation for another day. The issue on ground is existential. Even the other day I saw some elders, including the former Secretary General of the Commonwealth, went to Tinubu to demand for a new constitution which is one of our demands, we talked about minimum wage, and we talked about wastage in government.

?You?re asking people to tighten their belts but you?re there buying a jet for $115 million, renovating the home of your Vice President for N21 billion, everybody in the National Assembly got an SUV for close to $150,000 dollars. Nigerians need to understand that this is just a hoax which is why I coined a word yesterday that the government is no longer practicing democracy but ?oryzacracy? which is the government of rice. You know that the botanical name for rice is oryza sativa. Any problem in Nigeria, give them rice, flood in Maiduguri send them rice, people are sick, send them rice. The government has become a joke and that brings us back to the conversation about treason. If you?re in law court representing an accused person, someone who has been accused of treason for carrying placards, you?ll look at the prosecutor to wonder whether he went to a law school,? he insisted.

On his arrest and release at the Lagos airport, he said that he was arrested, and his passport seized but was later returned to him.

He however, complained that the biggest bag he came back with was missing and he hope that nobody would go and plant something there.

?I?m hoping that nobody should plant something funny inside my bag. Even if they re-arrest me, I?m not a stranger to them we?ll resolve that when we get there.? Sowore said. (Daily Independent)

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