Former lawmaker, Senator Shehu Sani, has hailed the release of Omoyele Sowore by the Department of State Services on Thursday evening.

The lawmaker described the 48-year-old’s release in compliance with the order of the Federal High Court, Abuja, after more than four months in detention, as a big relief for the entire country and a welcome development.

Sani attributed Sowore’s long walk to freedom as a product of resilience and courage demonstrated by the trial judge and defendant’s legal team led by Femi Falana (SAN). He added that Sowore's ordeal and detention by the DSS had tainted the image of the Nigerian Government on human rights and respect for the rule of law and called on Nigerians to stand up against any anti-people policies of the government that may stifle their rights to free speech.

Sowore was released by the secret police alongside his co-defendant, Olawale Bakare popularly known as Mandate, few hours after a ruling by Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu of the Federal High Court in Abuja ordering the DSS to set them free within 24 hours.