DSS: Ekiti youths threatens to shut down Abuja, issues 2-weeks ultimatum

Youths in Ekiti under the aegis of the National Youths Council (NYC), Ekiti State chapter, on Monday threatened to shut down the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, if the Department of State Security (DSS) fail to release Honourable Afolabi Akanni, lawmaker representing Efon constituency at the Ekiti State House of Assembly.

The youth in Ado-Ekiti during a peaceful protest against what they described as unlawful, continued detention of Honourable Akanni.

Many of the youths who massed at the Fajuyi Park in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State Capital and walked in peaceful protest to Oke-Isa, Ejigbo, and the Federal High Court, stopping at each vantage point to address the teeming crowd following them, argued that the continued detention of Akanni since March 4, during the alleged invasion of Ekiti Assembly Complex by men of the Department of State Security, (DSS), is not only illegal but a deliberate slap on the constitutional of Nigeria.

Comrade Olumide Fasuba, Spokesperson for the NYC, who spoke to journalists on behalf of the group, said: “Our protest this morning was against the illegal abduction of our lawmaker, Hon. Afolabi Akanni by the Department of State Security (DSS) for weeks now without any legal action being taken against him.

“The over 300 of us that you have seen today represent over 500,000 youths in Ekiti from all the 16 Local Government Areas of the state. We are condemning the action because it is an aberration to the principles of the Rule of Law.

The Rule of Law must be allowed to prevail under this democratic dispensation that we are. We want to remind the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, General Mohammadu Buhari, that we are not in a military regime but democracy and so the constitution and fundamental rights of every citizen must be respected. We have given two weeks ultimatum to the DSS and FG to release Hon. Akanni or face the wrath of the youths in Ekiti. We would not hesitate to take the protest to their doorstep in Abuja if they fail to respect the Court Order for the immediate release of our lawmaker, Hon. Akanni.

“Since the DSS has not established that he has committed any offence that threatens the security of the state, he must be released with immediate effect and be allowed to continue to perform his constitutional duties at the State House.

“What the DSS has done is shameful, it is a slap on the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. So, we appeal to President Buhari to call the DSS to order and ask them to release lawmaker Akanni.”