Quote:The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, says the Department of State Services may be forced to make public a tape recording of the visit of the late Isa Funtua and other newspaper publishers to the Publisher of Sahara Reporters, Omoyele Sowore, if the 2019 African Action Congress presidential candidate doesn’t refrain from making spurious claims.

Sowore, who was detained by the DSS for over four months in 2019, was visited by the late Funtua; Shehu, the Publisher of Vanguard, Sam Amuka-Pemu; and the Publisher of Thisday newspapers, Nduka Obaigbena.

Funtua, who was a close ally and in-law to the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), died in Abuja on Tuesday.

Following his demise, Sowore granted an interview to his news platform on Tuesday, narrating how the deceased and others paid him a visit while he was in the DSS custody and asked him to put aside his ‘revolutionary views’ and stop fighting the government as this could lead to his release.

In his reaction in a Facebook post, however, Shehu advised Sowore to let the late Funtua rest in peace.

He wrote, “Let’s get the facts straight on the meeting with Sowore in SSS detention. First, it is important to state that the meeting was not instructed by the government. Nobody sent anybody to go and negotiate Sowore’s freedom as he put it.

“The late Malam Isma’ila (Funtua), on his own called me to ask that I broker a meeting with him and two others with the SSS, which they agreed to. It is important that I state that it was the force of Malam Isma’ila’s argument that made the meeting possible.

“Vanguard Newspapers publisher, Sam Amuka and ThisDay Publisher and President, Nigerian Press Organisation, Nduka Obaigbena, all agreed that Sowore was a ‘rascal’, who had used his newspaper ‘to abuse all of us,’ but agreed, nonetheless to go and press for his release.

https://punchng.com/buharis-spokesman-threatens-to-release-tape-of-isa-funtuas-visit-to-sowore/

Quote:
Sowore Dares Garba Shehu To Release Tape Of Funtua’s Visit 

The Publisher of Sahara Reporters, Omoyele Sowore, has challenged the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, to release the audio tape of the late Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari, asking the Department of State Services to detain him till 2023.

Sowore said this in a Facebook post while reacting to Shehu’s threat that he would ask the DSS to release a tape recording of the visit of the late business mogul, Isa Funtua, and other newspaper publishers to him while in custody of the DSS last year.

The activist had in an interview claimed that Shehu along with Funtua, the Publisher of Vanguard newspapers, Sam Amuka; and his Thisday newspaper counterpart, Nduka Obaigbena, visited him during his four-month detention in the DSS last year and asked him to set aside his radical views so that they could help negotiate his release.

In his response, Shehu slammed Sowore for saying they came to ‘negotiate’ with him and threatened to get the DSS to release a tape recording of the visit if Sowore did not stop making such claims.

The President’s aide also asked Sowore to let Funtua rest in peace and stop telling lies against him.

Responding, however, the activist dared the President’s aide to release the tape.

Sowore also explained that the trending interview on Funtua was not new but an old one which only began circulating after Funtua’s demise on Monday.

The Sahara Reporters publisher also asked Shehu to release the tape recording of the late Chief of Staff to the President ordering the DSS to keep him in detention till 2023 when the tenure of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) would have expired.

Sowore wrote, “I urge you to release the tape, but don’t forget to release tapes of conversations between COS Abba Kyari and DSS DG asking that my detention should last for the duration of the Buhari regime in 2023 because Sahara Reporters did a report that revealed that he collected N500m from MTN.

“Why can’t you be honest for once in your life, when you came to meet me in detention what was your intention, what would have constituted the conditions for my release? Who would have ordered my release, Isa Funtua? What powers did Funtua have to get me released?

“My insistence then got Isa Funtua riled and he said that my lawyer was only grandstanding and that he too had been imprisoned by Buhari in 1983 and that no one can defeat the government. Your wicked self kept quiet but Nduka noticing I was upset took me to the DO’s anteroom

“When I arrived downstairs I made a telephone call to my lawyer, Femi Falana, in the presence of the DSS officials telling him that I do not want to negotiate my freedom and that when he meets your team he should restate my position, he did exactly that, your team got upset again.”

Sowore, who is the leader, ‘#RevolutionNow movement, was arrested by the DSS on August 2, 2019 for calling for a revolution. He was denied bail by the government despite court orders but was eventually released on December 24, 2019. He is still facing charges before a Federal High Court.

https://punchng.com/detention-release-tape-of-funtuas-visit-sowore-dares-garba-shehu/