Omoyele Sowore, the convener of the #RevolutionNow movement has alleged that he has been maltreated and molested in detention by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS).
Sowore made the accusation while he was interrogated, according to a transcript of proceedings published by Inibehe Effiong, the National Legal Adviser of African Action Congress (AAC), the political party founded by the DSS detainee, on Facebook on Monday.
Sowore has been in the custody of the DSS since August 3, after he was arrested for purportedly leading a call of insurrection against a democratically elected government.
According to the text, entitled: “Transcript from DSS Interrogation of Sowore Upon Abduction – Excerpt 1”, Sowore, who contested the 2019 presidential election under the AAC, made the accusation during interrogation in the presence of five DSS operatives and a lawyer simply identified as “Barrister Sam”.
The detainee told one Usman Usman, a DSS operative, who led the interrogation, that he was abducted and manhandled by DSS operatives upon his arrest in Lagos.
He claimed that such hostile treatment continued at the DSS facility in Lagos before he was transferred to Abuja.
Asked by Usman “if in the course of your being here anybody has molested you in any way or maltreated you?” Sowore replied, “Yes”, and then provided an account of how he has allegedly been ill-treated by officers of the country’s domestic intelligence agency.
“I was abducted in the middle of the night. I was taken to one of your facilities in Lagos. I was beaten up, rough-handled on my way to the facility in the car. And my cousin, who was in the room with me, was also beaten and handcuffed, and my properties were forcefully seized. And when I got there, of course, the maltreatment continued, they threw me on a cold floor and locked the door.
“I had no contact with even the guards for two nights; I was in that facility before I was flown here by your agents. So, I was seriously maltreated,” the transcript quoted Sowore as saying.
When asked if he has been able to contact his family, the detainee, who is also the publisher of Sahara Reporters, an online citizen journalism platform, lamented that he was yet to be given access to them.
He said: “I’ve not made any calls to them. My brother is outside; he wasn’t allowed to see me as we speak.
“No, I’ve not made any call to my family members, I only made calls to people I remember their numbers to bring me food and asked them to call my brother. My brother came in today. But he was denied access to me, so I haven’t been able to see him and as a result, speak with my mum, wife and kids.”
Read Also: Sowore Charged With Treason, Money Laundering
The Federal Government had on Friday filed seven counts of treasonable felony and money laundering against Sowore.
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