ABUJA – A Lagos-based human rights lawyer and activist, Chief Malcolm Richard Omirhobo, has been arrested by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS).
The arrest was effected at the Presidential Villa gate in Abuja when Omirhobo was on a one-man demonstration to register his displeasure over the recent killing of 43 farmers in Borno State by suspected Boko Haram insurgents.
The lawyer arrived at the Villa gate in company of some journalists about 9:00a.m, clad in a customised T-Shirt with the inscription, 'Stop the Genocide
He was whisked away by operatives of the service while granting a press interview.
Omirhobo said he was at the Villa gate to see the president, Muhammadu Buhari, with the intention to express his bitterness over the gruesome murder of the farmers in Zabarmari village.
But the activist was prevented from gaining access into the Presidential Villa by armed policemen stationed at the gate near the Supreme Court.
The situation led to exchange of hot words between the policemen and the lawyer as he insisted on gaining entry into the premises.
He told the officers that he is a Nigerian citizen and that he has the right to see the president on the need to stop the senseless killing in the country.
He accused the Federal Government of conspiracy in the carnage that is going on in the country.
Leader of the police team, CSP Isah Hadejia, in an attempt to dissuade him from going ahead with the protest, asked him to formally transmit his demands to the appropriate authority.
Trouble, however, started when the armed operatives of the DSS arrived at the scene, descended on the activist and rudely bundled him into a vehicle and drove into the Villa.
Journalists covering the protest were not spared as they were harassed by the operatives who even attempted to seize their cameras.
Omirhobo had said he was at the Presidential Villa to protest peacefully against the institutionalised and systemic genocide going on in Nigeria.
He said the Zabarmari village incident came on the heels of the slaughtering of 110 farmers also in Borno State.
"I am here to tell the president that enough is enough, and that he should stop playing the ostrich because all the acts done by these evil people killing innocent and harmless Nigerians are being backed by the government.
"I am saying it categorically that the government is conniving, conspiring, and assisting this crime against humanity, and that is why I am here to protest," he said.
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