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Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Communications, Femi Adesina, has denied that he was among the emissaries sent by the Federal Government to negotiate with the convener of the #RevolutionNow Protest, Omoyele Sowore, in detention.
Online newspaper, Premium Times, had published a report that the Federal Government had sent two separate delegations to negotiate with Sowore in detention at the headquarters of the State Security Service (SSS) in Abuja.
According to the medium, the latest delegation that tried to negotiate with Sowore unsuccessfully comprised Isa Funtua, a close political associate of the president; Sam Amuka, publisher of Vanguard Newspapers; Nduka Ogbaigbena, publisher of Thisday Newspapers and presidential spokespersons, Femi Adesina and Garba Shehu.
The first team, according to the newspaper, included Funtua, Amuka, Shehu and Obaigbena. The team met with Sowore in the office of SSS director of operations.
Funtua confirmed the meeting and reportedly told the newspaper: “I went to meet him (Sowore) with Sam Amuka, Nduka Obaigbena and some others. We were there for two hours to discuss with him that there was no need to be grandstanding with his lawyers.”
But Adesina in a tweet this evening denied being part of any such delegation, describing the report as fiction.
He however did not deny the existence of such a delegation.
Adesina wrote: “Premium Times reports that I was part of Presidential delegations to Omoyele Sowore in detention, and that I even was in the lead of one of such visits. Fiction! Is James Hadley Chase still alive? Thought he was long dead.”
See Adesina’s tweet:
Sowore reportedly rejected both attempts as extra-judicial and self-serving, saying he would not take part in any arrangement that would essentially lend legitimacy to unwarranted abuse of his fundamental rights and brazen disregard of judicial authority.
Sowore was arrested on August 3 at his residence in Lagos.
He was first granted bail by a federal high court in September, but the SSS did not comply and instead took him before another court to file duplicated charges against him. The second judge granted him bail under stringent conditions in October, which he eventually satisfied on November 6.
Both court orders were ignored and Sowore remained in illegal custody of the SSS.
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