Few days after the family of Sahara Reporters publisher, Omoyele Sowore, called on the Department of State Services (DSS) to release their son without further delay, his wife, Opeyemi, children, and supporters stormed the streets of New Jersey to demand his release.
The Herald gathered that the friends and family staged the protest on Tuesday, November 26, outside the office of U.S senator Bob Menedez. The protesters tied yellow ribbon on a tree, clamouring for Sowore’s freedom.
Sowore’s wife said: “I can’t explain to our children why their father isn’t here for thanksgiving. The children need their father, I need my husband. Communications have been extremely sparse.”
The Herald gathered that the Omoyele Sowore, the convener of Revolution Now movement, took the Department of State Services (DSS) to court for illegal detention.
Sowore prayed the Federal High Court in Abuja to order the DSS to pay him N500m for aggravated damaged over his illegal detention which he called ‘Illegal violation of his fundamental rights’.
Sowore filed the lawsuit on November 20, 2019, and was marked FHC/ABJ /C51409/2019. The suit was supported by a 21-paragraph affidavit deposed to by Abubakar Marshall and accompanied by a written address.
The Lawsuit stated: “A declaration that the detention of the applicant from November 7, 2019 till date in violation of the order for his release made on November 6, 2019 is illegal as it violates his fundamental right to liberty guaranteed by Section 35 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) and Article 6 of African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Ratification and Enforcement Act (CAP A10) Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.”