A human rights activist and publisher of SaharaReporters, Omoyele Sowore, and others were on Monday threatened by an AK-47 wielding policeman in Abuja.

This happened close to the premises of Dunamis Gospel Church in Lugbe where they had gone to seek the release of some youths arrested by the church’s security who allegedly handed them over to officials of the Department of State Services.

The youths were arrested for wearing ‘Buhari Must Go’ T-shirts to the church on Sunday, 4th July.

Omoyele Sowore who was accompanied by another activist, Deji Adeyanju, was seen in a video obtained by The PUNCH addressing newsmen on the issue.

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They were approached by a policeman who wasn’t pleased with their presence as he could be heard telling the activists to leave.

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When his voice fell on deaf ears, he angrily said, “I will kill somebody here,” just as he complained about being captured by a reporter’s camera.

Watch Video below:

Sowore, Adeyanju meet Enenche over #BuhariMustGo activists arrested at Dunamis church

Omoyele Sowore and Deji Adeyanju, on Monday, met the Senior Pastor of Dunamis International Gospel Centre, Dr Paul Enenche, over the arrest of five activists at the church’s premises for wearing #BuhariMustGo T-shirts on Sunday.

During the meeting, which was also attended by the activists’ lawyer, Abubakar Marshal, the pastor was said to have confirmed that the arrest was made by operatives of the Department of State Service and not the church security officials.

Addressing journalists after the meeting, Adeyanju said the pastor informed them that he had taken steps to ensure that the activists were released.

He noted that the whereabouts of the five activists are still unknown and they have not been released.

“There is something that the pastor said he doesn’t want it to be misconstrued that it is the church that is sponsoring the protest,” Deji added in a statement.

While making clarification on the matter, Sowore said the pastor denied the claims by some persons that the activists were trying to disrupt the church service.

Buhari Must Go Alter Call: I’ll kill somebody here, gun-wielding policeman threatens Omoyele Sowore

Sowore said “They came here and it is their right, I wore my own T-Shirt to meet with him today my #BuhariMustGo T-Shirt. So, there is nobody who can tell you what to wear to church or to wear to school except the school that have uniforms.

“But we are adults and if we are tired of the system and we say the system must collapse it is our right to express ourselves freely. I told the pastor when he said he was not happy when the activists were trying to protest within the premises that with the way things are going on more and more people will be wearing #BuhariMustGo T-Shirts to the church because people are tired of Buhari’s regime.

“We have a respectable agreement and some disagreement over this issue but what is important to me and why I don’t want to drag this for too long is the release of these individuals from detention.

“We are going to wait till evening because we requested that they should be released today (Monday). Nobody knows their whereabouts. We don’t know whether they have been fed or they have been tortured.”

However, there was a mild drama at the gate of the church when the activists were granting press interviews.

Some overzealous policemen challenged them and pointed guns at the journalists who were conducting the interview.

The situation led to a heated argument as the gun-wielding operatives insisted on knowing their mission for granting interviews at the gate.

DSS refuses to release youths wearing ‘Buhari Must Go’ shirts

In all, the Department of State Services (DSS) has refused to release five youths arrested at Dunamis Gospel Church for wearing ‘Buhari Must Go’ shirts.

Pastor Paul Enenche was quoted saying that he had no hand in the arrest of the five youths. He further quoted the cleric as saying that the youths did not stage a protest inside the church auditorium and that he would ensure that the youths are released.

Adeyanju said, “He (Enenche) was preaching when the incident happened and it was three hours later, after the third service that he was informed of what happened and he had even taken steps to ensure that they are released but you know the overzealous security agencies we have in this country.”