Rotimi Akeredolu condemns DSS invasion of court

Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State has maintained that operatives of the Department of State Services, DSS, desecrated the courtroom when it attempted to re-arrest Omoyele Sowore, convener of RevolutionNow Movement inside an Abuja Federal High Court.

Rotimi Akeredolu, who spoke at the opening of the 65th-anniversary conference of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Ibadan Branch held at Aare Afe Babalola Bar Centre, Iyaganku, Ibadan, on Monday, urged legal practitioners to condemn the act by the DSS.

The Governor warned that judges were at risk of being arrested in “wig and gown during court session” if the bar refuses to condemn such action by the secret police.

He said: “We must be terror against demagogues. It is when the voice of the bar is heard consistently that it will earn respect.

“Will people go and desecrate our courtrooms and we keep quiet? The bar must condemn it. There is no explanation anybody can give you.

“Somebody calls it drama. Drama! How? What we saw was not drama, you must stand up to condemn the SSS for what they did in Abuja.

“Our spirit must remain indomitable. Forget about where we are today because a lot of us made efforts to say what you have done is wrong and the only way out was apologize almost immediately, but what people believe is different. You must write to justify what is not justifiable.

“If we are not careful, the day will come that people will walk into a judge’s sitting and arrest people with their wig and gown.

“I am not saying our judges are timid, but in the face of the gun, most of our judges will shake.”