A civil society group, Friends of Democracy and Freedom (FDF), has warned some senators from the United States of America to stop “interfering in Nigeria’s internal democratic affairs.”
FDF’s warning came following the remarks attributed to Senator Bob Menendez from New Jersey at a world press conference Friday, where he was quoted to have condemned the re-arrest of Sahara Reporters publisher Omoyele Sowore.
In the video, the lawmaker appeared to have threatened the federal government, alleging that President Muhammadu Buhari “is woefully out of touch with what the agencies of his government are doing.”
In a press conference Saturday in Abuja, the FDF thumbed down Menendez and other foreign vested interests concerned in Sowore’s on-going trial while ignoring “his inglorious call for a revolution in Nigeria.”
In a statement signed by its president, Ambassador Joshua Adegbenro, FDF stated that Sowore’s revolution could be a creation by some foreign entities to cause the country’s disintegration.
The statement read in part: “It is indeed a sad commentary in Nigeria with the way and manner germane issues have been replaced with trivialities. This is concerning the on-going trial of Omoyele Sowore, who, by all intent and purposes, attempted to carry out a violent change of government in Nigeria by calling for a violent revolution.
“The Friends of Democracy and Freedom views with suspicion the way and manner some foreign interests have indicated interest in the trial of Omoyele Sowore and in some instances attempting to influence public opinion by crying wolf where none exists.
“The Friends of Democracy and Freedom is convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that Omoyele Sowore is a creation by some foreign entities to cause the disintegration of Nigeria, else, how could one phantom how and why a Nigerian that is supposedly educated and enlightened would attempt to effect a violent change of government in a democratic setting.”
It further read, “The recent outing by Senator Bob Menendez with Opeyemi Sowore, the wife of Omoyele Sowore, calling for his release is, at best, an insult to the sensibilities of Nigerians because the focus has been deliberately shifted to freedom for Omoyele Sowore and not the crime he committed against the state.”
“The Friends of Democracy and Freedom wishes to state that things that are intolerable in western climes are also unacceptable in Nigeria. A call for a revolution is a threat to peace and tranquility, and all peace-loving people must condemn it.”
