(Timi Frank. Photo by Guardian Nigerian News)
Former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, Comrade Timi Frank, has called on the Department of State Services to immediately and unconditionally release activist Omoyele Sowore, urging the agency to redirect its focus to combating b@ndits and t3rrorists threatening lives across Nigeria.
Frank, speaking in his capacity as ULMWP Ambassador for East Africa and the Middle East and Senior Adviser at the Global Friendship City Association in the United States, made the demand in a statement on Tuesday in which he condemned Sowore’s arrest and detention as a national disgrace and a dangerous assault on democracy.
He insisted that Sowore had committed no offence warranting arrest and that his continued incarceration amounted to political victimisation.
His remarks followed a recent ruling by a Federal High Court judge in Abuja ordering Sowore’s remand at the Kuje Correctional Centre pending the hearing of his application challenging the revocation of his bail.
Justice Mohammed Umar had dismissed Sowore’s motion seeking the judge’s recusal over alleged bias and adjourned hearing on a motion for stay of execution until June 24.
Frank alleged that the arrest was politically motivated and formed part of a broader agenda by the Federal Government to intimidate opposition figures, journalists, civil society actors, and critics ahead of the 2027 general election.
He argued that the deployment of security agencies against dissenting voices indicated growing intolerance of criticism and democratic opposition.
He maintained that Nigeria remained a constitutional democracy where citizens were guaranteed freedom of expression, and that criticising government policies did not constitute a cr+me.
Frank also criticised the judiciary, urging judges not to allow the courts to be weaponised as instruments of political persecution, and called on the international community particularly the United States and other democratic nations to pay close attention to developments in Nigeria.
He warned that no level of intimidation by security agencies would deter citizens from demanding accountability from elected officials, and stressed that democracy could only flourish where dissent was protected rather than suppressed.