• All other 65 arrested members released, brand Sowore’s court ruling as tyranny
By Sunday Ehigiator
The Coalition for Revolution (CORE) movement in Nigeria yesterday, at a press briefing, disclosed that it would be resuming its protest on August 19, to further press in their demands for a better Nigeria.
The group rated its August 5 protest as a huge success, putting into consideration, the number of states in Nigeria where the action was carried out and the publicity the group actions had gathered.
They further disclosed that all 65 members of the group held in custody by the police in different states during the August 5 protest had been released on bail, leaving out only their embattled leader, Omoyele Sowore, whom DSS secured approval from court to keep in custody for 45 days yesterday.
The group however, likened the action of the court to that of “military days of tyranny,” against the backdrop that Sowore wasn’t the brain behind the #RevolutionNow movement but CORE.
According to the statement signed by two Co-conveners of CORE, Comrade Olaseni Ajai and Comrade Baba Aye, “You are all aware of the horrid event that depicts our return to days of state hostility, with the abduction of one of our members, Comrade Omoyele Sowore by the Department of State Security Services (DSS) in the early hours of Saturday, August 3, 2019 by masked armed men of the DSS.
“It is an act that is not only condemnable, but gives room to evil perpetrators to further undermine the safety of innocent Nigerians, as they could also leverage on such in kidnapping people in their homes at dead hours of the night.
“The terrible economic situation we all live in is no so more news. An appalling state of infrastructure reflected in bad roads, poor state of health facilities, the dreadful state of insecurity, with daily kidnappings of innocent citizens, abuse of fundamental human rights, etc. Are all reasons for embarking on days of rage, which started on August 5, 2019.
“We need a new order and we are bold to say so. We urge the government to stop the attempt at diverting people’s opinion from the issues. We are non-violent and unarmed Nigerians. But we are equipped with words of truth and a conscience craving for justice, equity and fairness.
“We have rights as Nigerians to freedom of speech, assembly and peaceful protest. We can no longer watch as Nigerians are being roasted alive in foreign countries, our citizens are being raped, extorted and abused in foreign lands. Those at home can’t get good education, good healthcare and employment. The level of insecurity in the North, South, East, and West is a source of worry to all.
“Our rulers have no solution to all these, they see the country as a business centre, with most of them having homes outside the shores of our land, and their families living on funds stolen from our collective patrimony.
“The development at the moment, with the court order obtained on August 8, 2019, by the DSS to retain Sowore in their custody without trial for 45 more days which is being described as being renewable, reminds one of nothing but the military days of tyranny.
“We vehemently condemn this ‘Decree 2’ in disguise that has found its way back into our democracy. We urge all Nigerians and lovers of democracy to resist this.
“For the avoidance of any doubt, we hereby reiterate our five core demands, an economy that works for the masses, an effective and democratic end to insecurity, an end to systematic corruption aimed at a total system change, the immediate implementation of the N30,000 minimum wage, and a free and quality education for all.
“ In pursuit of these demands, we shall continue with our days of rage with a mass protest on Monday, August 19, 2018. On this note, we are calling on the people to rise up in defense of genuine democracy from below.
“Students, market women, artisans, and union represent the true and popular democracy that can bring to birth a better society. We will win the Nigeria of our dream only by taking action.”
When asked on the success of the last protest, Ajai said, “It was a huge success. It was observed in over 23 states.
We are the only body aside, Nigerian Labour Congress that have achieved such national movement. It is only quite funny why they chose to pick on Sowore. He is not the brain behind days of rage.
Sowore is just one of our members. The movement is bigger than Sowore. It is a Nigerian movement and CORE as a group and all its members are the brain behind it.
“Yesterday we successfully secured the bail of all of our members totaling 65 persons that were arrested all over the country during the August 5, protest. And we are stronger in spirit for this course, regardless of what they do to stop us.
“Yesterd
