Abuja, Nigeria — Human rights activist and former presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, was arrested by police in Abuja on Thursday shortly after leaving the Federal High Court, marking the latest in a series of legal confrontations for the prominent government critic.
The arrest, which his legal team has denounced as “executive impunity,” occurred just outside the court premises where Sowore had appeared for a scheduled hearing in a case alleging the forgery of a police wireless message—a charge he has consistently dismissed as “bogus and farcical.” Sources indicate the arrest was reportedly ordered by the Commissioner of Police for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
According to a member of Sowore’s team, a police officer approached the activist informing him he was under arrest on the CP’s orders. When Sowore’s lawyers, led by human rights attorney Tope Temokun, demanded a reason for the sudden arrest, police reportedly insisted they were acting on “direct instruction” before escorting Sowore into a waiting vehicle.
The court appearance for the alleged forgery charge, which Sowore claims was filed under the instruction of the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, did not hold as the judge was not sitting.
Invitation Turns into Detention
In a subsequent press statement, lawyer Tope Temokun detailed how a simple invitation turned into an arrest. The police initially asked to take Sowore to the FCT Commissioner of Police, an invitation Sowore voluntarily accepted.
However, instead of the CP’s office, they were taken to the Deputy Commissioner, CID FCT, where they were informed that Sowore was being held for allegedly leading a protest in an area where a “court order” supposedly prohibited public demonstrations. Temokun challenged the police’s action, questioning why an alleged violation of a court order was being handled by the police instead of being reported to the issuing court. He stated that moments after the Deputy Commissioner denied Sowore was under arrest, the activist was driven to the notorious IRT facility in the area known as the “Abattoir.”
“Instead of the IGP’s office, we were driven to the notorious IRT facility in the so-called ‘Abattoir’ a place of dark reputation, far removed from law, where citizens’ rights go to die in silence,” Temokun stated. “There, Sowore was detained without a court order, without charge, without explanation.”
Lawyer Demands Immediate Release
Temokun emphatically argued that the police action is a clear abuse of power, stressing that only the court that issued an order can entertain a complaint of disobedience.
“What the police have done is not law enforcement, it is executive impunity,” Temokun declared. “To detain a man for leading a protest, to abduct him under false pretext, and to hold him incommunicado is to make a mockery of everything our law professes to stand for.”
Sowore, the publisher of SaharaReporters and convener of the #RevolutionNow movement, has been a long-time, vocal critic of government policies and has faced multiple arrests and legal battles since 2019 over his demand for good governance and action against corruption. The activist’s legal team is now demanding the immediate and unconditional release of Omoyele Sowore.
