A former Deputy spokesman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Timi Frank, has condemned the invasion of the residence of Yoruba nation agitator, Sunday Adeyemo aka Sunday Igboho, by operatives of the Department of State Service (DSS).
In a statement in Abuja on Friday, Frank described as barbaric the invasion of Igboho’s residence, killing of his aides and forceful abduction of his family members by the secret police.
He added that the attack by the DSS was lawless, and one in a series of state-sponsored terrorism against innocent Nigerians.
Frank added that the DSS is only trying to cover up its alleged illegality of raiding a house without a search warrant as prescribed by law on the pretext that the activist stockpiled arms and ammunition in his house.
The former APC chieftain challenged the security outfit to use the same intelligence that led it to Igboho’s house to raid the houses of terrorists and Fulani herdsmen making the country ungovernable.
Frank urged Nigerians to brace up for the worst form of persecution, intimidation, arrests and human rights violations that has become the hallmark of the President Muhammadu Buhari regime in the last six years.
He said: “The recent attack on Sunday Igboho’s house in Ibadan by agents of an uncaring government is condemnable, abhorrent, sickening, obnoxious and despicable.
“Coming on the heels of recent abduction and re-arraignment of Nnamdi Kanu by Nigerian security operatives and their international collaborators, I urge Nigerians to brace up for a full fledged police state where their rights and freedoms would be heavily mortgaged by the present administration new seeking to quell all forms of decent with sledge hammer and most brutal coercive power of state.
“Only recently, Nnamdi Kanu was surreptitiously kidnapped and smuggled into Nigeria from ‘who knows where’ to continue his trial without any trace of an extradition warrant executed to repatriate him back into the country.
“Again, this is not the first time security forces would swoop on Sunday Igboho or his property in a bid to arrest or silence him.
“While the kidnap of Kanu is a clear violation of international law, the punitive acts against Igboho coming on the eve of his planned Yoruba Nation rally in Lagos, represent a total breach of his rights to personal liberty and freedom of expression.
“These acts are anachronistic and barbaric and should have no place in a sane and lawful society as they portray Nigeria as a country under siege by its own government.”
He also urged Nigerians to speak up against heinous crimes being meted on citizens like Igboho and Nnamdi Kanu by agents of the Federal Government.
Frank called on the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN) to respect his oath of office by immediately restraining himself from trampling on the rights of citizens and perpetrating illegalities.
