By Ishaya Ibrahim, News Editor
A Magistrate Court in Abuja on Monday remanded Omoyele Sowore, publisher of Sahara reporters, and four others at the Kuje Correctional Centre pending the hearing of their bail applications on Tuesday.
Sowore, an activist and convener of the Revolution Now Movement, was arraigned on charges of conspiracy, unlawful assembly and incitement.
Juwon Sanyaolu, Damilare Adenola, Peter and Kimrere were also arraigned on a three-count charge alongside Sowore before a Magistrate Court in Wuse Zone 2, Abuja on Monday.
They pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Sowore in a tweet said: “We have been sent to the infamous Kuje prison for the next 24 hours while they plot their next moves. But we are very resolute and convinced that this year will be different for the tyrant! #RevolutionNow.”
The police had alleged that the defendants were arrested with placards calling for a violent revolution against President Muhammadu Buhari.
Sowore had in a tweet called for protests across the country.
He was arrested alongside other activists during a procession on New Year’s eve.
Meanwhile, former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili, on Monday asked President Muhammadu Buhari to authorise Sowore’s release or be prepared for more protests.
Ezekwesili said Buhari should create additional cells to keep more protesters if he failed to ensure the release of the five activists immediately.
Ezekwesili
Speaking on Arise TV on Monday, Ezekwesili said the activists have the right to protest in a democratic society.
She said, “There is nowhere we have seen change happen without the resilience of a segment of the population to act regardless of the oppression that may be against it. That is why we must all applaud the resilience of Yele Sowore. Some people are not fair to him in dismissing his advocacy. I don’t dismiss it at all. Every society needs a Yele Sowore and all other groups and movements that consistently advocate for a good society.
“The truth is that the only pillar that has the motivation and has the right incentive to push for change in this society is the citizens’ pillar. Our current political class are not going to overwhelm all of the citizens.
“It will do the president good to ask that Yele Sowore and the other citizens that were imprisoned for merely protesting be released. Everybody in a democracy has the right to protest and that right can never be taken by anyone.
“The president will think of establishing many more cells because if he continues to keep Yele Sowore, his (New Year) speech will mean nothing to anybody, not as if to say anybody bothers to believe what he said because what we have consistently seen over the past years is a president that says one thing and does a completely different thing.”
