Activist and Sahara Reporters publisher, Omoyele Sowore, has threatened to sue the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) over alleged unlawful and unconstitutional deactivation of his National Identity Number (NIN).
Mr Sowore, a former presidential candidate, issued the threat in a pre-action notice sent by his lawyer, Tope Temokun, to the Director-General/Chief Executive Officer of NIMC.
The lawyer, in the pre-action notice, demanded the reactivation of Mr Sowore’s NIN within seven days, failing which, he threatened, he would sue the agency for a redress.
“TAKE NOTICE that if after the expiration of SEVEN DAYS, inclusive of the date of service of this letter on you, our client’s National Identity Number (NIN) is not reactivated, we have the full instruction of our client to approach the appropriate court with jurisdiction to seek this redress and this shall be without further recourse to you,” the January 14, 2022 letter read in part.
As the seven-day ultimatum issued in the letter lapsed on Friday without his demand met, Mr Temokun told our reporter on Saturday that his client would be suing the agency “this coming week”.
Copied the pre-action notice sent to NIMC are the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), Nigeria Police Force (NPF), National Security Adviser, State Security Service (SSS) and the Chief of Defence Staff.
‘How deactivation of NIN was discovered’
Mr Temokun recalled that Mr Sowore had been using his NIN for various transactions since it was issued to him for purposes including application for and issuance of a passport, opening of bank account, registration with INEC and issuance of voter’s card.
He said his client surprisingly learnt of the deactivation of his NIN on January 12 when he wanted to use it for a transaction.
“On January 12, 2022, when he wanted to use his National Identity Number to effect certain banking transaction, he discovered to his greatest consternation that his National Identity Number has been deactivated from the National Identity Database.
“No notice was issued to him neither did he receive any message from the National Identity Management Commission concerning the deactivation of his National Identity Number.”
He added: “The deactivation of his National Identity Number is politically motivated to stop him from participating in the 2023 generation elections”.
Mr Sowore had told our reporter in an earlier interview that the NIN deactivation affected his permanent voter card, passport and driving licence.
He also said a Guarantee Trust Bank (GTB) official had told him on January 10 that “there is a recently renewed freeze order served on the bank by DSS (SSS).”
He recalled that his passport had been seized by the Federal High Court in Abuja as a condition for the bail granted him in his ongoing trial on charges of treasonable felony.
He noted that although he did not have a driving licence, it would be impossible to get one without an active NIN should he have a need for it.
Background
Sahara Reporters had reported on earlier on January 12, 2022 that Mr Sowore’s biometric identifications had been deactivated, and he would be unable to use any of the national documents to conduct any transactions within or outside the country.
The report described the development as Nigerian government’s latest attack on Mr Sowore.
“Legal action will definitely be taken as this infringes on the broader Citizenship right,” Mr Sowore had told our reporter.
NIMC’s spokesperson, Kayode Adegoke, could not be reached for comments, as he did not pick our reporter’s repeated calls or reply the text messages sent to him.
But the spokesperson of the National Immigration Service (NIS), the government’s agency that issues passports to Nigerian citizens, Amos Okpu said he had no information regarding the alleged deactivation of Mr Sowore’s passport.
SSS operatives, in a gestapo manner, arrested Mr Sowore in Lagos in August 2019 after he called for a nationwide #RevolutionNow protest against bad governance, corruption and worsening insecurity in the country under President Muhammadu Buhari’s watch.
The federal government subsequently charged him with treasonable felony, accusing him of trying to overthrow Mr Buhari. He was charged along with a protester, Olawale Bakare, who was arrested by the SSS in Osun State.
Both men were subsequently granted bail by the court. As part of the bail conditions, the court restricted Mr Sowore to Abuja. It also restricted Mr Bakare to Osogbo and can only leave the Osun State capital only when travelling to Abuja for his trial.
But since then, Mr Sowore has been participating in many protests in Abuja. He has been arrested temporarily and on an occasion for days during some of the protests.
Mr Sowore has, on numerous occasions, raised the alarm over repeated coordinated attacks on him by alleged hired thugs during protests and appearances in court.
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